The government has outdone itself in ensuring the African Nations Championships CHAN, will take place in the country and it must be applauded, Football Kenya Federation National Executive Committee (NEC) member Ahmedqadar Mohamed Dabow has said.

The country will host for the first time a major senior men's continental football competition when CHAN 2024 takes centre stage from August 2 to 30. Kenya will co-host the competition together with East African neighbours Uganda and Tanzania.

Matches will be held at the Moi Sports Centre Kasarani and the Nyayo Stadium, which have been upgraded to CAF standard ahead of the competition. Other facilities in and around Nairobi, such as the Ulinzi Stadium, the Police Sacco Stadium, and the Kinoru Stadium have been upgraded to host training matches for participating teams.

Previously, Kenya has failed to host any major competition, thanks to lack of infrastructure. Dabow says that President William Ruto must be applauded for pushing the sport agenda, arguing that football is about commitment from the upper echelons of leadership.

"Its an honour to host the African Nations Championships. This is a major tournament and I'm very proud to be Kenyan and to see that we will be able to host such a competition and to be able to see Kenyans and Africans visit our country and celebrate football. It is something good for our country and the profile of our nation will grow. This is what happens when there is commitment from the top leadership, he said Friday morning on the People's Breakfast Show.

Dabar, who is also the Member of County Assembly for Eastleigh North and as well a former footballer and avid supporter of the game, has thanked the Kenya Kwanza government led by President William Ruto for supporting the growth of football at the highest level.

"I want thank the government of President Ruto, the cabinet secretary Salim Mvurya and the Football Kenya Federation led by President Hussein Mohamed for supporting this competition. Football is big all over the world. You saw that the President of the US attended a football match recently. This is a big matter and the government has supported recognized this and supported the hosting of this tournament. You may not know what is involved in organizing this tournament. There is need for commitment of the highest level. There is money involved, logistics, security aspects involved. There are three meetings happening now just to organize this tournament and ensure that it is successful, Dabow said.

Dabar, went on to paint a picture of just how much investment has been made regarding the stadiums.

" The President William Ruto has shown commitment. It comes from the top and the President has done his part to show commitment. For the first time, we have stadiums of world class standard. It was totally embarrassing that in previous regimes, we saw our national team play in Uganda and Malawi. This is unacceptable. For the first time we will have CAF level ticketing and security accreditation. You will go and park your car at a specific parking and then walk into the stadium to a seat with a specific number. When finished, the Talanta Stadium in Ngong Road will be a football only stadium. There will be no track in this stadium. This is a first in Kenya. The government has committed funds to make this work and it must be applauded, he added.

Kenya will host Group A of CHAN, here in Nairobi, with the Democratic Republic of Congo DRC, Zambia, Angola and Morocco making up the visitors to Nairobi. Dabow has asked fans to come out in large numbers to support the team, even though he is wary of behavioral tendencies that have existed before and is hopeful that issues such as hooliganism will not exist especially with the new infrastructure in place.

Ticket prices range from Ksh 200 for the terraces to Ksh 1,000 for the VIP areas.

"We urge the fans to come out and support the team and the tournament as a whole. I also ask the fans to take care of the facilities we have renovated and to ensure that they are preserved and we do not encounter incidents of destruction of property. These facilities will serve us for a long time, he requested.

Kenya's Harambee Stars will take on twice previous CHAN winners DR Congo in their opening fixture at Kasarani, Sunday August 3, 2025 with kick off at 3 PM Kenyan time.