The Africa Cup of Nations will be held every four years instead of every two from 2028, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) has announced. The tournament, which brings in an estimated 80% of Caf’s revenue, has been held every two years since its inception in 1957. Sunday marks the start of the 35th edition, hosted in Morocco with the home team taking on Comoros.
The Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, said the next finals, scheduled for 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, will go ahead and another tournament would be held in 2028, but after that it will be hosted every four years.
Motsepe announced the launch of an annual African Nations League from 2029 to fill the gap, following the example of Europe that holds its championship every four years. “Historically the Nations Cup was the prime resource for us but now we will get financial resources every year,” he said. “It is an exciting new structure which will contribute to sustainable financial independence and ensure more synchronisation with the Fifa calendar.”
Holding Afcon every four years had been proposed by the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, but this had been rebuffed by Caf because of their reliance on the revenues the tournament generates.
The timing of Afcon has long courted controversy because it has usually been hosted in the middle of the European season, forcing clubs to release players. This was supposed to be solved by moving it to mid-year from 2019, but the tournaments in Cameroon in 2022 and Côte d’Ivoire in 2024 were again hosted at the start of the year.
This year’s tournament in Morocco was moved back six months when Fifa introduced the new-look Club World Cup, which was hosted in the US in June and July.