Ethiopia Wants AFCON 2028 and Is Racing to Build Its Stadiums

ETHIOPIA · SPORT

The Ethiopia AFCON 2028 bid was lodged with CAF on 24 August, and the question it raises is simple: can a country with two approved stadiums and an unfinished national ground host a 24-team tournament in less than two years?

What Ethiopia handed to CAF

The Ethiopian Football Federation announced on Monday 24 August that it had presented its bid handbook to CAF. A bid handbook is the formal file a country submits with its stadium plans, budgets and government promises.

The federation said the bid meets all requirements and carries the backing of the federal government. That is the federation’s own claim, and CAF has not publicly confirmed receiving the August file.

This is also Ethiopia’s second submission of the year. The federation confirmed a first bid on 2 January, and CAF said on 12 February that it had received three official bids for 2028: Ethiopia, Morocco, and a joint entry from Botswana and South Africa.

The deadline for those bid documents, including government guarantees, was 1 February 2026. Why Ethiopia filed again in August has not been explained publicly.

Two approved stadiums, and the count just changed

For five years Ethiopia had no stadium licensed by CAF for international matches, because its grounds failed inspection. That is why older reports say the country had one approved stadium, or none at all.

That changed this year. CAF approved the refurbished Dire Dawa stadium in March, and Ethiopia played its first home international in five years there on 31 March, a qualifier against Sao Tome and Principe.

This month the 52,000-capacity Bahir Dar stadium was also cleared, after renovations due to finish by the end of 2026. Ethiopia is set to host Senegal there on 29 September.

Two grounds are still far short of a continental finals. Morocco staged the 2025 edition in nine stadiums, and Ethiopia’s own plan names six host cities: Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa, Hawassa, Jimma and Mekele.

The stadium the bid depends on

The centrepiece is the Adey Abeba national stadium in Addis Ababa, designed for 62,000 seats. Construction began in January 2016, with completion first promised for the early 2020s.

The project stalled after a cost dispute with the original contractor, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, which the government moved to replace in late 2022. In March 2025 the sports ministry signed a fresh deal worth about US$137 million with another Chinese state firm, China Communications Construction Company.

The contractor said the work would take about two years, which points to an opening in 2027. Until the stadium exists, its capacity is a design figure, not a venue.

Who else wants AFCON 2028

The strongest rival is a joint southern African bid. The Council of Southern African Football Associations confirmed on 19 May that Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe would bid together, expanding the two-country entry CAF listed in February.

Morocco is the open question. CAF named it as a bidder in February, but the Moroccan federation declined to confirm any bid at the time, and the kingdom is already preparing to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal.

Egypt announced interest in late December 2025, then said on 1 February that it would target the 2032 or 2036 editions instead. In July, though, an Egyptian football association board member said the country was studying a 2028 bid again.

Five years of playing “at home” abroad

Between 2021 and early 2026, Ethiopia had to stage its home internationals in other countries. Its 2026 World Cup qualifying home games were played in Morocco and in Kigali, Rwanda.

That record is the measurable part of the readiness question. A country that spent five years unable to host its own team is asking to host the continent.

Security is the other factor rarely mentioned in bid coverage. Parts of Ethiopia remain affected by armed conflict, and Mekele, one of the proposed host cities, is in a region emerging from war.

Why CAF is in no hurry

One report in February said CAF’s executive committee might settle the 2028 host at its 13 February meeting in Dar es Salaam. No decision was announced, and CAF has said since that it is still assessing the proposals.

Part of the delay is the calendar. From 2028 the Africa Cup of Nations moves from every two years to every four, and finding dates that do not clash with the European Championship, the Los Angeles Olympics or the expanded Club World Cup is genuinely hard.

The 2027 edition is settled: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda co-host from 19 June to 17 July 2027, the first AFCON in East Africa since Ethiopia’s own tournament in 1976. Ethiopia is trying to ride that momentum, while the southern African bid can argue it is simply the region’s turn.

The sentimental case, which is real

Ethiopia is a founding member of CAF and hosted the second, sixth and tenth editions of the tournament. It won the 1962 final in Addis Ababa, beating Egypt 4-2 after extra time, and that remains its only title.

The modern record is thinner. The national team, known as the Walia Ibex, is ranked 144th in the world and 44th in Africa, and has reached the finals only three times since 1976, most recently in 2021.

None of that decides a hosting race. In recent years CAF has awarded tournaments on infrastructure and finance rather than heritage, and heritage is what Ethiopia has most of.

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