Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi of Ghana. (-)

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has deemed stadiums in 11 countries unfit for hosting its AFCON competitions approval measures for stadium facilities across the continent.

CAF announced that one of the disapproved facilities is the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi of Ghana which will not host international matches. This means the Ghanaian football team is to consider playing its home games abroad.

The continental football body has identified several deficiencies in the Baba Yara Stadium, which were highlighted following Ghana’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier against Angola.

Despite granting conditional approval to host the match, CAF’s recent decision indicates that the stadium does not meet the standards required for Category 3 international matches.

This categorization encompasses important fixtures, including top-tier international games. CAF’s decision likely puts pressure on Ghana’s football authorities to either address these infrastructure problems or risk losing the right to host future high-profile international matches.

CAF has also banned 11 other countries from hosting international matches due to subpar stadium conditions.

The affected countries include Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Burundi.

According to CAF, these nations will need to find alternative venues for competitions like the AFCON qualifiers, further complicating their participation.

In August 2024, CAF released a new list of pre-approved stadiums for the second preliminary round of the 2024/2025 CAF interclub competitions. Some stadiums approved in June were removed from this list after failing to meet CAF’s strict requirements.

South Africa leads with 11 approved stadiums, followed by Morocco with eight. Algeria, Egypt, and Ivory Coast each have six approved venues.

These stadiums will host matches for prestigious tournaments such as the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup. One of the notable stadiums on the approved list is the Juba National Stadium.