Uganda has scored a major coup by winning the rights to host the 2024 Rugby Africa Cup, ending a long-held European dominance over the continent’s flagship rugby tournament.
The East African country was awarded the hosting rights for the prestigious 8-nation continental tournament, after putting in a strong bid, and will also stage the 2025 edition as a prelude to that year’s Rugby World Cup in England.
The decision marks a seismic shift in approach at Rugby Africa, the governing body which had previously chosen to stage the 2022 edition in Aix-en-Provence, France, a move that drew widespread criticism for favoring the former colonial power over African nations that had bid to host.
However, with Herbert Mensah becoming Rugby Africa’s president in March 2023, a new era of decolonized policymaking has taken root. Among Mensah’s first major actions was rebuffing the neo-colonial tendencies of his predecessors by agreeing to return the Rugby Africa Cup to its African homeland.
The 2024 Rugby Africa Cup from July 18-29 will feature the continent’s top 8 national teams battling for supremacy in Kampala. Participating nations include Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, Zimbabwe, and Algeria.
The previous administration, led by former President Khalid Babou’s French-controlled executive committee, supported by Executive committee members like Elvis Tano from Ivory Coast, Rolande Boro from Burkina Faso, Herman Mbonyo from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and others, had voted to host the 2022 tournament in France, despite Kenya’s bid to host the event in Africa, which was rejected in favor of France.
While all participating African teams were flown to France in 2022, where the last Rugby Africa Cup took place in the small town of Aix-en-Provence.
And it made little sense to have an African tournament featuring African teams competing among themselves played on another continent, undermining the potential economic benefits for the African sports industry.
Prior to assuming office in March 2023, President Mensah had vowed to overturn such neo-colonial policies and ensure all Rugby Africa competitions were played in Africa for the continent’s benefit. Keeping his word, the current Rugby Africa executive committee voted last year to approve hosting the tournament in Kampala, Uganda.
The awarding of both the 2024 and 2025 tournaments to Uganda represents a resounding vote of confidence in the East African nation’s capabilities, challenging the long-held perception that African infrastructure and organizational abilities were inferior.
Beyond the rugby spectacle, the event will serve as an economic catalyst by driving tourism, investment, and invaluable global marketing exposure for the “Pearl of Africa.” Most importantly, it cements Africa’s determined rise as the masters of its own rugby destiny.
Hosting the 2024 and 2025 Rugby Africa Cups in Uganda kicks off Mensah’s vision of making the sport a source of pride and economic development by prioritizing the involvement of African nations and fanbases. And the decision to give the hosting rights to Uganda marks a significant milestone in the policy shift under the new Rugby Africa administration he chairs.
