The Africa Cup of Nations will shift to a four-year cycle starting from an edition planned for 2028, marking a significant change from its current biennial format, African football chief Patrice Motsepe announced on Saturday.
Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe disclosed this change as part of a broader restructuring to better align with the global football calendar.
While AFCON held every two years was crucial for revenue for African national associations, Motsepe stated that the introduction of an annual African Nations League competition, similar to the UEFA Nations League, would now serve as the main revenue source.
“Our focus now is on this AFCON, but in 2027 we will be going to Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, and the
AFCON after that will be in 2028,” Motsepe told reporters in Rabat on Saturday, on the eve of this year’s Morocco-hosted Cup of Nations.
He mentioned that a bidding process would be initiated for nations interested in hosting the 2028 Cup of Nations.
“Then after the FIFA Club World Cup in 2029, we will have the first African Nations League with more prize money, more resources, more competition.
“As part of this arrangement, the AFCON will now take place once every four years.”
The Cup of Nations, usually held every two years since its inception in 1957, has struggled to find a convenient slot in the global calendar over the last 15 years.
This year’s tournament in Morocco will be the eighth since the 2012 edition in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
The 2019 edition in Egypt was held in June and July, a shift from its traditional early-year slot to avoid disrupting the European club season.
However, the last two AFCONs, in Cameroon in 2022 and Ivory Coast in 2024, reverted to January-February to avoid the rainy season in those regions.
The latest Cup of Nations was initially scheduled for June and July this year but was moved due to the first edition of FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup in the United States.
CAF could not wait until next June because of the 2026 World Cup and can no longer stage the Cup of Nations in January and February due to the new UEFA Champions League format.
The solution is to start in December and continue into the New Year, a period when some European leagues, where many African stars play, take a break, though the Premier League has a packed schedule.
Motsepe said the change, along with the introduction of the Nations League, was made “to ensure the football calendar worldwide is more in harmony.”
“Our primary duty is to African football, but we also have a duty to the players from Africa playing for the best clubs in Europe,” he added.
“We want to ensure there is more synchronisation and that the global calendar allows the best African players every year to be in Africa.”
He stated that the new annual Nations League would initially be regionalised, with 16 teams each in the east, west, and central-southern zones, and six in the northern zone.
Matches will be played in September and October, with the top teams from each zone converging for the finals in one location in November.
Meanwhile, he announced that the prize money for the Cup of Nations in Morocco would be increased to $10 million, up from the $7 million awarded to the winners in Ivory Coast in 2024.
(With AFP inputs)
