CAF reverses four-year AFCON plan, restores biennial tournament
The executive committee of the Confederation of African Football decided on Thursday to return to holding the Africa Cup of Nations every two years.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe, in a statement on Thursday, said this, weeks after announcing at the CAF Strategy Conference in Cabo Verde that the CAF exco would reassess the decision it made in 2025 to hold the tournament every four years.
Mr Motsepe said, “The decision by the CAF EXCO that the CAF AFCON should take place every two years was based on advancing, protecting and promoting the interest of African football and CAF’s 54 member associations, as well as the interest of African players employed by football clubs outside Africa.
“The next TotalEnergies CAF AFCON will take place in 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and I am confident that it will be very successful. The subsequent AFCONs thereafter will take place in 2028, 2031 and 2033.”
He explained that the reassessment and reconsideration were necessitated by, amongst other matters, the recognition that the proposed new Africa Nations League Pan-African Competition, which was supposed to replace the current AFCON and take place every two years, would require several years to be in a position to contribute the necessary substantial financial resources for the CAF competitions and African football to be globally competitive and self-supporting.
According to Mr Motsepe, the CAF EXCO’s decision is in the best interest of African football and CAF’s 54 member associations. It will also contribute significantly to the development and growth of football on the continent.
Mr Motsepe also stated that, because the next FIFA World Cup is in 2030, AFCON and other confederations’ national team competitions may not be held that year.
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