CAF has fixed the Africa Cup of Nations for 19 June to 17 July 2027, staged across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Qualifying is already running: matchdays one and two were played between 24 September and 6 October 2026, and the campaign resumes in the FIFA window of 22 to 30 March 2027. For the first time the tournament sits inside three of the markets this site covers at once — and those three markets do not share a rulebook.
What CAF has confirmed
The tournament is branded TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations PAMOJA 2027. Forty-eight nations contest qualifying, divided into twelve groups of four playing home and away over six matchdays. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are automatically qualified as co-hosts, drawn into Groups D, H and L respectively, and their results there do not change that. In each of those three groups the highest-placed team other than the host also qualifies; in the nine groups without a host, the top two go through.
That structure has a consequence worth holding on to before any market opens. In Groups D, H and L there is effectively one qualifying place being contested rather than two, and the host's own fixtures carry no qualification stakes for the host. Team-news and motivation assumptions carried over from an ordinary qualifying group will not hold in those three.
What Morocco 2025 left behind
Senegal won the 2025 edition, their second continental title, beating Morocco in the final; CAF's technical study group named Sadio Mané player of the tournament and recorded Brahim Díaz of Morocco as the leading goalscorer. CAF also reported the tournament drew a record six billion digital views, including 5.2 billion video views, and described it as the most-viewed continental football competition. Those are the organiser's own figures, published by the organiser.
The 2025 numbers matter here only as a baseline for what three East African hosts are inheriting: an audience that is now primarily watching on a phone, in markets where the betting account is also on that phone.
One tournament, three legal regimes
A punter following the same tournament from Nairobi, Dar es Salaam and Kampala is operating under three separate statutes, three regulators and three tax treatments. The figures below are read from our country records at the moment this page is served, so they cannot drift from the guides they come from.
| Host market | Regulator | Tax taken from the punter |
|---|---|---|
| Kenya | Gambling Regulatory Authority | Deposit excise 5% under Finance Act 2026, effective 1 July 2026; withholding 20% under Income Tax Act |
| Tanzania | Gaming Board of Tanzania | 15% under Gaming Act, Cap. 41, section 34(1), as amended by section 16 of the Finance Act, 2026 (Act No. 2 of 2026), effective 1 July 2026 |
| Uganda | National Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board | 15% under Income Tax Act (withholding on payments for winnings of betting) |
Kenya is the only one of the three that charges you on the way in as well as on the way out, so a Kenyan bankroll shrinks before a single bet is placed. Tanzania's figure is new: section 34(2) of the Gaming Act used to carve sports betting down to ten percent, and the Finance Act, 2026 deleted that carve-out with effect from 1 July 2026, which means a Tanzanian punter's 2027 tournament will be taxed differently from their 2025 one. Uganda's is withheld by the licensed promoter as a final tax.
The age threshold diverges too, and more sharply than the tax. Kenya and Tanzania set it at 18. Uganda's Lotteries and Gaming Act, 2016 defines a minor as a person below twenty five years and then forbids a licensee from taking payment from one, so a 22-year-old Kenyan watching a group game in Kampala cannot legally open an account with a Ugandan licensee. Our piece on how that threshold is drafted explains why it is harder to change than it looks.
Market by market: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda.
The cross-border problem nobody has solved yet
A three-host tournament invites travel between the hosts, and an online betting account does not travel with you. Each of the three licenses operators for its own territory; an account opened with a Tanzanian licensee is a Tanzanian product, funded in shillings on a Tanzanian wallet, and crossing a border does not make it a Ugandan one. There is no East African passport for a gambling licence, and nothing CAF has published changes that.
What this means in practice is dull and important. Deposits and withdrawals stay on the rails of the country where the account was opened. Payouts are taxed under that country's statute, not the one you are standing in. A dispute goes to that country's regulator. And an operator that serves all three markets does so through three separate licensed entities, which is why the bonus and the cashier look different on each.
What to settle before the March window
- Confirm which country's licensed entity your account actually belongs to, from its own terms rather than the domain.
- Expect the tax line on a payout to follow that entity, not your location during the tournament.
- Note that the three host groups each have one real qualifying place, not two.
- Read the operator's tournament-specific promotion terms as a separate contract from its standard welcome offer; they usually are one.
Questions
When and where is AFCON 2027?
CAF has it running from 19 June to 17 July 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, branded TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations PAMOJA 2027. Qualifying matchdays one and two ran from 24 September to 6 October 2026 and the campaign resumes between 22 and 30 March 2027.
Do the hosts have to qualify?
No. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are automatically qualified and are drawn in Groups D, H and L. In each of those groups the highest-placed team other than the host qualifies as well; in groups without a host, the top two qualify.
Can I use one betting account across all three host countries?
Not as a matter of licensing. Each country licenses operators for its own territory, and an account belongs to the licensed entity that opened it. The tax on a payout and the regulator for a dispute both follow that entity rather than where you happen to be watching.
Sources
- CAF, TotalEnergies CAF AFCON PAMOJA 2027 qualifiers fixtures, kick-off times and venues, cafonline.com — hosts and dates, 48 nations in 12 groups of four, home and away over six matchdays, the March 2027 window, host groups D, H and L and the qualification rule for host groups. Read 1 October 2026.
- CAF, Senegal and Morocco dominate the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Morocco 2025 Best XI, cafonline.com — Senegal champions and second title, Morocco finalists, Mané player of the tournament, Díaz leading goalscorer. Read 1 October 2026.
- CAF, TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Morocco 2025 breaks new digital records with 6 billion views, cafonline.com — six billion digital views and 5.2 billion video views, as reported by CAF. Read 1 October 2026.
- The Lotteries and Gaming Act, 2016 (Uganda), section 2 and section 57, businesslicences.go.ug. Read 1 October 2026.
- The Finance Act, 2026 (Tanzania), Part VII section 16, tra.go.tz — deletion of Gaming Act section 34(2), in force 1 July 2026. Read 1 October 2026.
- Tax rates in the table are rendered from this site's country tax records, each of which carries its own statute, effective date and source on the relevant country guide.
Editorial note, 1 October 2026. This article was published before the 2025 tournament as a markets-and-coverage preview. Morocco 2025 has been played, so it has been rewritten around the edition that is still ahead. The address is unchanged.
