The Africa Cup of Nations comes to East Africa for the first time in 2027, and Zanzibar is one of the host islands. The tournament runs from 19 June to 17 July 2027, co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda under the name "Pamoja", the Swahili word for together. Tanzania's share includes Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, and the Zanzibar government has confirmed that matches will be played on the island. This post collects what is confirmed, what is still open, and what the tournament means for a stay on the east coast. We will keep it updated as CAF publishes the venue list and the fixtures; the date of the last check is at the bottom.
The confirmed facts, as of 6 September 2026
- Dates: the opening match is on Saturday 19 June 2027, the final on Saturday 17 July 2027. The group stage is scheduled for 19 to 30 June, the round of 16 from 2 to 5 July, quarter-finals 7 to 8 July, semi-finals 11 to 12 July.
- Teams: 24 national teams, with the three hosts qualifying automatically. The qualifying rounds run through 2026 and early 2027.
- Zanzibar's venues: the Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar Town, renovated to about 15,000 seats with the modernisation completed in December 2023, and a second, larger stadium of about 25,000 seats that the Zanzibar government broke ground on in September 2024 and is still building.
- Not yet published: which matches are played in Zanzibar, kick-off times, and ticket sales. CAF has confirmed the dates and the three host countries but has not released the final venue-by-venue schedule. We will not guess at it here.
Zanzibar already has a football habit. Every January the Mapinduzi Cup brings club sides from the region to the Amaan Stadium, and Zanzibar's own national team plays in the CECAFA competitions. AFCON is a different scale: a month of matches, visiting supporters from across the continent, and the island's first tournament of this size.
Where the stadiums are, and how far that is from Matlai
Both Zanzibar venues are in Zanzibar Town and its surroundings, on the west side of the island. Boutique Hotel Matlai is at Michamvi Pingwe on the southeast coast, about 65 km from the airport and roughly the same distance from Zanzibar Town. By road that is about 1 hour 15 minutes, and up to 1 hour 30 minutes on a busy day, the route running east via the Jozani Forest. The same road takes you to the airport, so a match in town and a flight home can be planned around one drive each.
On a match day the practical version is this: you leave the hotel three to four hours before kick-off, to allow for the drive, the walk from wherever cars are held, and the entry queues that any 15,000-seat stadium produces. After the match you drive back east in the dark and arrive to a beach with no crowd on it. That is the whole argument for staying on this coast during a tournament: the matches are loud, the nights are not.
We help you arrange the car. Under Tanzanian law a hotel may not run its own taxis, so the drive is done by one of the two local transfer companies we work with, and your butler helps you book it. The airport transfer is USD 60 per car for up to six people, paid either to the driver or by card at the hotel on the transfer company's own card machine. Our airport transfer guide has the route, the visa notes and the mobile-data tip, and it applies word for word to a stadium run.
What June and July are like on the east coast
The tournament falls in the Kusi season, the southeast monsoon that runs from roughly May to October. Kusi is the dry, cooler half of the Zanzibar year: daytime temperatures of about 25 to 28°C, low humidity, a steady breeze off the ocean, and the clearest water for snorkelling. The pool sits at around 25°C in these months, which feels fresh after a hot afternoon in a stadium. These are also the months when the tide range of two to three metres makes the walk to the Mchanga sandbank possible at low water, and the two free kayaks worthwhile at high water. Our best time to visit Zanzibar guide has the month-by-month detail.
One honest note: June and July are already high season at Matlai, tournament or not. With AFCON on top of the usual demand, the six rooms on this property will be booked earlier than in a normal year.
Who Matlai suits during AFCON, and who it does not
Matlai is two villas with six rooms in total: Villa Kidosho with two rooms, Asili House with four, and a maximum of twelve guests on the whole property. It is not a fan hotel. There is no big screen on the beach, no shuttle bus to the stadium, and no dormitory pricing. What it offers is the opposite of a match crowd: a quiet beach, a restaurant with two kitchens, and a butler who deals with the logistics.
That makes it right for three kinds of AFCON visitor:
- A group travelling together. Asili House takes four rooms around one lounge, and a whole-villa booking is the only way to bring children under 14. Our private villa for groups page sets out how the villas divide.
- Supporters who want one or two matches, then a holiday. See the group games in Zanzibar Town, then stay on the east coast for the rest of the week.
- People visiting for the tournament for work, such as media, federation staff and sponsors, who need a place that is calm after a long day.
If you want to be five minutes from the stadium, stay in Zanzibar Town. If you want to be an hour and a quarter from it and asleep by midnight, this is the coast for that.
Booking a stay around the matches
Rates for June and July 2027 are on our booking page, and 2027 is priced by season with high season running from 15 June to 31 October. Three practical points:
- The early-bird offer gives 10% off the seasonal rate for bookings made six months or more in advance. For a stay around the opening match on 19 June 2027, that means booking by 15 December 2026. The offer cannot be combined with any other offer or package, and the full terms are on the booking page.
- Minimum stay is two nights, and a tournament week works better as five or more: two match days in town, the rest on the beach.
- Half board is the standard basis, so dinner at Zatiny is included on the days you are back in time, and if a night match will bring you back late, tell your butler in the morning so the kitchen knows.
Combining AFCON with the rest of Tanzania
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are co-hosting, so some supporters will follow their team across three countries. From Zanzibar the useful links are the daily flights to Dar es Salaam and the direct flights to the northern safari circuit: Arusha and Kilimanjaro are about 45 minutes away by jet, and longer on the small propeller planes that are common on these routes, which puts the Serengeti and Ngorongoro within a day of the beach. Our Tanzania safari guide covers the beach-and-safari combination, including the order that works (safari first, beach after) and the flight connections.
Zanzibar's own calendar has other fixed points worth knowing if you are choosing between months: the Sauti za Busara music festival in February, Ramadan and Eid in the spring of 2027, and the Mapinduzi Cup in January.
Questions guests have asked us about AFCON
Will you have match tickets?
No. Tickets are sold by CAF and the local organising committee, not by hotels. When sales open we will link to the official channel here, and to nothing else.
Can we watch the matches at the hotel?
The rooms have WiFi that streams video, so a match broadcast is watchable on your own device. There is no public screen; the beach in front stays as it is.
Is the road to Zanzibar Town open at night?
Yes. It is the same road as the airport route, via Jozani, and it is driven at all hours. Agree the return with your driver before the match rather than looking for a car afterwards; your butler helps you set this up.
Will prices go up for the tournament?
Our 2027 rates are published by season and the tournament does not change them. What changes is availability: six rooms go quickly in a normal June, and this will not be a normal June.
What we will update here
This post is dated so that you can see how current it is. We will add the Zanzibar match list when CAF publishes it, the ticketing link when sales open, and any change to the second stadium's timeline. Last checked against the CAF and Tanzanian government announcements on 6 September 2026.