The 36th edition will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania from June 19 to July 18, and will be the first to be hosted by three countries, and the first in five decades to be organised in the CECAFA region, since it was hosted by Ethiopia in 1976.
By virtue of being host nation, Kenya will be among the 24 teams that will fight it out for the coveted trophy, which is currently being held by Senegal after they defeated Morocco in the disputed final of the 2025 edition in Rabat.
With the draw for the edition yet to be released, the South African legend, who handled Harambee Stars during the 2024 edition of the African Nations Championship (CHAN), which was co-hosted by the three East African nations as the dress rehearsal for the 2027 AFCON, is already plotting Kenya’s success.
Biggest worry is to get out of group
McCarthy has made it clear; his desire is to see Kenya have a successful campaign with the target of getting themselves out of the group stages.
“Getting out of the group stages, first of all, that’s the biggest worry,” McCarthy told iDiski Times.
“You know, you don’t want to be the host, and then you collapse in the group stages. So that’s disastrous for the tournament, especially because then you get less fans wanting to come to the game because their nation is out.”
McCarthy, who is the South Africa national team’s all-time top scorer with 31 goals, added: “But if the nation is still in the tournament, then even if you don’t have tickets to go to your nation, you would want to go and see other teams. But if you’re not there, then I don’t want to go and watch.
“So, for me, I think success would be getting out of the group stages, and then you take it game by game and see where you can get to.”
Morocco AFCON standard was incredible
While admitting it will be a tough task for Kenya to achieve the target, McCarthy further revisited the recently concluded AFCON in Morocco which he said had raised the standards high for 2027 edition hosts in East Africa.
“Because when you watched AFCON, the latest AFCON in Morocco, the standard was incredible. The standard was high. The quality of pitches also allowed the football to go up a level as well,” added McCarthy, the only South African to have won the UEFA Champions League, doing so with Porto in 2004.
McCarthy concluded: “So yeah, that’s a tough task for us to do. But we’ll do the best we can and most definitely target getting out of the group stages.”
This will be the second major tournament the South African legend will be taking charge of Kenya since he was hired in March, 2025.
During the CHAN under McCarthy, Kenya were drawn in Group A alongside Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, and Angola. Kenya beat the Leopards 1-0, before coming from behind to draw 1-1 against the Palancas Negras.
On matchday three, Kenya came up against the Atlas Lions emerging 1-0 winners, before they defeated Zambia 1-0 to conclude their group matches unbeaten and seal a ticket to the knockout stages for the first time in their history of the CHAN.
In the Round of 16, Kenya’s journey came to an end after they lost 1-0 against Madagascar, who went ahead to reach the final, losing to Morocco.
Kenya has participated in the AFCON six times, making them one of the more experienced East African teams in the competition. Despite this, Kenya has never advanced past the group stages of a single AFCON.
