CAF abandons four-year AFCON plan and restores biennial tournament

The Confederation of African Football has abandoned its planned move to a four-year Africa Cup of Nations cycle and restored the competition's traditional two-year format. BBC Sport Africa reported that the reversal followed consultation with CAF's 54 member associations, with the executive committee voting to retain the more frequent tournament after announcing a different approach last December.

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CAF president Patrice Motsepe said the decision was intended to support the interests and development of African football. The original change, announced before the 2025 finals in Morocco, would have introduced a four-year cycle from 2028. At the time, Motsepe presented it partly as a way to coordinate the international calendar more closely, against a background of recurring disputes over players leaving European clubs for AFCON.

The reversal does not mean every forthcoming edition will be separated by exactly two years. Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are scheduled to stage the 2027 tournament from 19 June to 17 July, with another edition still planned for 2028. CAF has not yet announced the host or precise dates for that event. Subsequent tournaments are scheduled for 2031 and 2033 to avoid World Cup clashes, according to the BBC report.

The competition's financial importance formed a central part of the discussion. Revenue from Morocco 2025 was projected at $192 million, representing 66% of CAF's total competition revenue across men's, women's and age-group football. Its forecast profit was $114 million, compared with $75 million from the preceding tournament in Ivory Coast. Those figures are projections, rather than confirmed final accounts for the Morocco event.

An Africa Nations League involving all 54 member countries had been proposed as an annual competition alongside the less frequent AFCON. Motsepe has since acknowledged concerns that it could take several years for that tournament to deliver substantial financial and development support. September 2029 remains its proposed starting point, while his latest statement suggests it would operate every two years rather than annually.

The initial decision to reduce AFCON's frequency was taken by the executive committee without being presented to a general assembly of all member nations, BBC Sport Africa reported. CAF subsequently sought the associations' preferences before reversing course. The outcome preserves a regular AFCON while leaving the Nations League's precise place in the future calendar unresolved.