Kampala. Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are playing qualifiers for a tournament they already know they will contest.
As co-hosts, the three are guaranteed places at the finals.
The qualifiers, therefore, offer something different – competitive football, a chance to test players and, for the coaches, another examination before the real thing arrives. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will co-host Africa’s premier national football team championship from June 19 to July 17, 2027.
And while qualification is not at stake for the hosts, the coaching choices are. All three have gone foreign. Uganda have Belgian Paul Put. Kenya have South African Benni McCarthy. Tanzania have Argentine Miguel Gamondi.
But none is starting from scratch. Put was appointed Uganda’s head coach in 2023 and had his contract extended through to 2028.
During the delayed 2024 African Nations Championships (CHAN) campaign, Morley Byekwaso and Fred Muhumuza officially handled the team to a historic quarter-final qualification, while Put remained involved in its preparation and oversight.
McCarthy arrived in Kenya in March 2025 and immediately had the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, and CHAN on his plate. Kenya subsequently reached the CHAN quarter-finals on their tournament debut, beating DR Congo and Morocco on the way.
Gamondi’s journey has been slightly different. He initially took over Tanzania as caretaker coach in November 2025, just before Afcon in Morocco.
He then guided the Taifa Stars to the knockout stage for the first time before being confirmed permanently on a two-year contract in February. So the results in the opening 2027 Afcon qualifier results are not auditions for three new men. They are the latest evidence in projects already under way. Put’s Uganda went to Tunisia and came away with a 1-1 draw against the hosts, Rogers Mato cancelling out an early Alaa Arous goal. Nathan Asiimwe supplied the assist. The Cranes now face Libya at Hoima City Stadium on Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
McCarthy’s Harambee Stars also drew 1-1, Ryan Ogam rescuing a point against Eritrea on Saturday in Nairobi with a late equaliser.
Gamondi had the least pleasant start, Tanzania losing 2-0 to Guinea-Bissau in Zanzibar on Saturday despite dominating possession. They faceThe results matter, but not in the conventional qualifying sense. The three hosts are already going to 2027 Afcon.
The more revealing story lies behind the appointments. Uganda have made foreign coaching almost a tradition.
Mike Mutebi was the last Ugandan to permanently coach the senior Cranes, in 2004. Since then, the job has passed through foreign hands – Pedro Pasculli, Mohammed Abbas, Csaba László, Bobby Williamson, Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic twice, Sébastien Desabre, Johnathan McKinstry and Put.
Moses Basena was appointed interim coach after Micho’s departure in 2017, while Abdallah Mubiru subsequently handled the Cranes during the 2019 vacancy. Neither was given the permanent senior-team job. That leaves Uganda with a local-coach gap of more than two decades.
The Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) have an explanation. When the federation appointed Frenchman Sébastien Desabre in December 2017, president Moses Magogo offered a fairly direct justification.
Uganda, he said, did not yet have a coach with the required continental experience.
‘We needed a coach who had the expertise and experience on the African continent. We didn’t have a Ugandan at that level,’ Magogo said in 2018, while explaining the decision to appoint Desabre and the federation’s simultaneous investment in developing local coaches.
A year later, after Desabre’s departure, Abdallah Mubiru was given temporary charge while Fufa searched for a permanent successor. The Ugandan saw the opportunity as more than a stopgap.
‘Foreigners don’t come from the moon,’ Mubiru said. ‘We undergo similar training and the added advantage is that we have local knowledge. Ideas are not defined by one’s colour.’
Kenya’s story has been less clear-cut. The Harambee Stars have swung between local and foreign coaches. Francis Kimanzi, Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee and Stanley Okumbi are among the Kenyans who have taken the job in recent years, alongside foreigners such as Sébastien Migné, Bobby Williamson and Engin Firat. Kimanzi made the case for local knowledge after succeeding Migné in 2019.
‘Local coaches are closer to their people and can get the best from them since they understand them better,’ he said.
Yet Kenya’s decision to appoint McCarthy shows why the foreign option remains attractive. Football Kenya Federation (FKF) pointed to the South African’s experience, vision and commitment to developing Kenyan football after considering a long list of applicants.
Tanzania have also moved between the two camps. There have been local coaches such as Salum Mayanga and Honour Janza, alongside foreign appointments including Emmanuel Amuneke, Mart Nooij, Márcio Máximo and Adel Amrouche. Gamondi’s appointment is therefore not a radical departure.
But his case carries an interesting twist – an Argentine with more than 25 years of coaching experience on the continent, who says Africa has shaped his career and that he remains an advocate for African football.
Foreign does not automatically mean better. Local does not automatically mean better either.
Experience matters. So does context. So does the quality of the players, the federation’s support and the time given to build a team.
And the debate becomes even more interesting in Uganda because the search abroad now extends beyond the dugout.
Fufa are also widening the Cranes talent pool to include players of Ugandan heritage developed in football systems outside the country.
There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Football has always moved. A wider talent pool can bring different coaching cultures, better-developed football education and players accustomed to higher levels of competition.
But it does pose a question. If Uganda increasingly looks abroad for both the coach and the player, what does that say about the football system at home?
Perhaps the more important question is what comes back. Fufa’s wider plan combines heritage players with domestic competitions and structured academies.
In the wider scheme of things, that makes sense because the objective cannot simply be to assemble the strongest possible Cranes for 2027. It must also be to leave something behind.
Put, McCarthy and Gamondi have already had substantial experience of the football landscape they are now trying to navigate. The 2027 finals will be different.
They will be at home – bigger, noisier and carrying expectations that no qualifier can quite replicate. And by then, we should know whether looking abroad helped East African football look forward.