CAF ticket portal crashes minutes after sales go live

Chaos has gripped Kenyan football fans after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) online ticketing portal crashed on Tuesday, leaving thousands stranded in their bid to secure seats for Harambee Stars’ group stage matches at the ongoing CHAN 2024 tournament.

The platform went live at noon but was overwhelmed by heavy traffic within minutes, locking out fans desperate to watch the match. 

“I had been refreshing the page for hours, but it just kept crashing. It’s frustrating because we really want to support the boys,” said James Ochieng, a die-hard fan.

The ticketing fiasco comes against a tense backdrop. 

CAF recently fined the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Sh12.8 million for security lapses during three matches at Kasarani Stadium.  

Following crowd trouble in the match against Morocco, CAF also reduced Kasarani’s capacity from 48,000 to 27,000, warning that further breaches could force Kenya to host games abroad.

Although the prices for ordinary ticket had been raised to Sh250 up from Sh200 fans only a few had managed to purchase them. In a statement on Tuesday, August 19, Mookh blamed the disruption on a bot attack that overwhelmed its systems, locking out genuine fans. “Our system was overwhelmed by automated bots, preventing genuine fans from securing tickets,” the firm explained. It assured fans its technical team was resolving the issue to ensure tickets went to supporters not bots before reopening sales.