Image by Explore Uganda
The Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) has signed on as Official Destination Sponsor of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations PAMOJA 2027, buying a place in the tournament’s commercial programme to market Uganda to fans, teams and broadcast audiences. The deal turns a co-host nation’s tourism agency into a paying partner of the event it is helping to stage, a sign that Kampala sees the tournament as a sales platform as well as a hosting obligation.
The agreement with the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) was announced on 30 October and launched in Kampala, with CAF General Secretary Samson Adamu, UTB Chief Executive Juliana Kagwa, Sports Minister of State Peter Ogwang, Tourism Minister of State Susan Nakawuki Nsambu and Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa in attendance. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the partnership, the “Explore Uganda” campaign and its “The Pearl of Africa” tagline will run across the tournament’s broadcast, digital and in-stadium platforms. AFCON PAMOJA 2027 will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from 19 June to 17 July 2027, the first edition staged by three countries and the first in East Africa since Ethiopia hosted in 1976.
Adamu pitched the tournament as a regional marketing opportunity, saying CAF expects more than 3 billion people to watch and is working with all three hosts to build ties with their business communities.
Kagwa was more direct about what Uganda wants from it. “The TotalEnergies CAF AFCON PAMOJA 2027 is the biggest tourism marketing opportunity Uganda has had in a generation,” she said, adding that the aim is for visitors to see the country beyond the stadium, stay longer and come back.
A visible piece of a wider government push
In April, Uganda committed an additional Shs905 billion to tournament preparations, including Shs37.85 billion for a “Destination Uganda” marketing and promotion campaign. It has also approved a visa waiver for visitors running from one month before kick-off to one month after the final, and UTB already has a destination marketing partnership with Roc Nation Sports International.
CAF has been selling the tourism case. Its Commercial Director, Hassan El Kamah, has said AFCON 2025 in Morocco drew more than 1.5 million visitors and generated an estimated $2 billion in economic impact within a month.
The more interesting point is where Uganda is spending. Visit Rwanda’s deals at Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and others set the template for East African tourism boards buying exposure in European sport, and UTB has used that route too, signing a one-year Champions Hockey League deal to market Uganda to Swiss audiences for the 2026/27 season. The AFCON deal works differently. UTB is buying into a continental tournament on its own soil, where the audience it reaches is also a potential visitor in the host region that summer.
It also gives Uganda a commercial edge over its co-hosts. Kenya and Tanzania share the same tournament, venues and broadcast window, but as of this deal only Uganda holds the destination sponsor tag.
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