From 'sold-out' to 'bots', CHAN 2024 ticketing chaos sparks fan frustration

Kenyan fans cheer during Harambee Stars' CHAN match at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani. (Photo: Amina Wako)

By Erick Kariuki
Wednesday, August 20, 2025

For many, the frustrations are about more than just missing matches they reflect a deeper worry about Kenya’s ability to handle bigger tournaments.

Harambee Stars’ fairytale run at the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) has captured the hearts of Kenyans.

Drawn in the so-called 'group of death', the team defied all odds to top their pool with 10 points and book a quarterfinal clash against Madagascar on Friday, August 22, at Moi International Stadium, Kasarani.

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But while the players shine on the pitch, the battle for fans is off it in the ticketing system. For this year’s tournament, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) partnered with Mookh to sell tickets digitally. What was meant to be a modern solution has turned into a nightmare.

From 'sold out' messages within minutes, to fans being blocked, alleged 'bot infiltration', long online queues and repeated system crashes, Kenyans have described the experience as an unpleasant rollercoaster.

For the Kenya versus Madagascar match, tickets went live at midnight and were gone in less than five minutes, raising questions about whether all 27,000 seats had truly been sold. By morning, fans were greeted with error codes and complete system failure.

Mookh later admitted that bots had hijacked the process. “When sales opened, our system was overwhelmed by automated bots, preventing genuine fans from securing tickets,” the company said in a statement.

For fans, however, the apology brought little comfort.

“It’s a disgrace,” said Lenny Kinoti, who had stayed up past midnight only to find the system down.

“It has been awful from the start,” added football analyst Dollar SM. “They should have limited tickets to five per person and upgraded their platform. Fans waited for hours only for the system to crash.”

Florence Mukami, another fan, pointed to safety concerns: “People are buying in bulk, printing and reselling tickets. That creates chaos and even exposes fans to fake tickets. Already, FKF has been fined for crowd control failures.”

According to football analyst Felix Shako, “Mookh should upgrade its servers to handle high traffic. Also, this idea of putting fans on standby until a set time only creates anxiety and spikes traffic.”

Juliet Juma, on the other hand, questioned whether Mookh was the right choice for football in the first place. “Mookh knows concerts, not football,” said Juma. “This is a different ball game.”

For many, the frustrations are about more than just missing matches; they reflect a deeper worry about Kenya’s ability to handle bigger tournaments. “It’s a disappointment. I’m losing hope,” said Alfred Onyango. “If this is how ticketing is handled, what will happen at AFCON 2027?”

With Harambee Stars preparing for their historic quarterfinal, one thing is clear: while the players fight on the pitch, fans continue their battle online not for goals, but for tickets.