By Boris Esono Nwenfor
The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the continent’s flagship football tournament, will be held every four years after the 2028 edition, Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe has announced, marking one of the most significant changes to African football in decades.
Since 1968, AFCON has traditionally been staged every two years, with the only exception being a one-year gap between the 2012 and 2013 editions. That long-standing biennial cycle will now come to an end following the 2027 finals to be hosted jointly by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and a subsequent tournament in 2028. From then on, AFCON will become a quadrennial competition, aligning its schedule with other major continental tournaments such as the European Championships.
Patrice Motsepe made the surprise announcement after a meeting of CAF’s executive committee in Morocco, just days before the start of the 2025 AFCON finals in Rabat. He described the decision as part of a broader restructuring aimed at modernising African football and easing long-standing tensions with the global football calendar.
“We have the most exciting new structure for African football,” Motsepe said. “I do what is in the interests of Africa. The global calendar has to be significantly more synchronised and harmonised.”
An end to Club-Country tug of War
The move from CAF brings to a close years of debate over AFCON’s timing, which has frequently clashed with the European club season. The majority of recent tournaments have been held in January and February, forcing clubs to release African players mid-season and often fuelling friction between European teams and national federations.
CAF had previously attempted to resolve the issue by shifting AFCON to a June-July window from 2019 onwards, beginning with the tournament in Egypt. However, a combination of factors derailed those plans. The Covid-19 pandemic and unfavourable weather conditions in parts of Central and West Africa meant the 2021 and 2023 editions in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast were again staged early in the year.
This year’s expanded 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, held in June and July, further complicated matters, leaving CAF with little choice but to schedule AFCON 2025 in Morocco over the Christmas and New Year period for the first time. The final is set to be played on January 18.
Despite these challenges, CAF had long resisted calls to abandon the two-year cycle, largely because AFCON generates vital revenue used to reinvest in football development across the continent. That financial importance was underlined alongside the calendar overhaul, with CAF also announcing an increase in prize money for the tournament winners from seven million dollars to ten million dollars.
The 2027 AFCON in East Africa will be followed swiftly by another edition in 2028, the hosts of which are yet to be confirmed. After that, the competition will settle into its new four-year rhythm, taking place in the same year as the European Championships.
Motsepe said the decision was taken in consultation with FIFA president Gianni Infantino and FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström, acknowledging that compromise was unavoidable in an increasingly congested global calendar.
“We have to compromise,” he said, stressing that closer alignment with FIFA would ultimately benefit African football.
In comes the CAF Nations League
To offset concerns about fewer AFCON tournaments, CAF has also announced the creation of an African Nations League, set to begin in 2029. The annual competition will be staged in September, October and November, fitting neatly into FIFA international windows.
Under the proposed format, all 54 CAF member associations will be divided into four geographical zones. The Northern zone will comprise six nations, while the Eastern, Western, and Central and Southern zones will each feature 16 teams. Matches will be played in September and October, with the regional champions advancing to a final phase in November to determine an overall winner.
Motsepe described the new competition as “the equivalent of an AFCON every year,” adding that it will be organised in partnership with FIFA to attract top-tier sponsorship and ensure the participation of elite players.
“Every year in Africa, the best African players who play in Europe will be with us on the continent,” he said. “Every year, we will have a competition with 54 African nations, with all the best players coming here to play. We are going to have a world-class competition every year.”
The announcement signals a new era for African football, one that aims to balance tradition with the realities of a crowded international calendar. While the move away from a biennial AFCON will undoubtedly spark debate among fans and stakeholders, CAF believes the combined introduction of a quadrennial AFCON and an annual Nations League will provide greater stability, increased commercial value and more consistent high-level competition for national teams across the continent.
