October 23 – CAF will vote next month on whether to abandon plans to hold the Africa Cup of Nations every four years, following a wave of opposition from federations and coaches.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe announced last December, ahead of CAN 2025 in Morocco, that the tournament would move to a four-year cycle from 2028. Almost a year later, the plan is being rethought. According to Afrik-Foot, Motsepe discussed this at the recent CAF Strategy Conference in Praia, Cape Verde, and confirmed that it will be voted on at the General Assembly in Nigeria on November 21.
Support for maintaining the current two-year cycle has been strong.
“We were surprised to learn of this reform that would change the final tournament every four years,” said Comoros federation president Saïd Ali Athouman. “You know that in Africa there is a strong link to CAN and the fact that it is held every two years.”
Ivory Coast coach Hervé Renard said: “I think it’s an excellent thing to go back to a CAN every two years and keep things the way they were. A CON every four years is too rare in my opinion, but that’s my personal opinion.”
DR Congo coach Sébastien Desabre linked it to the elimination of CHAN, the tournament for home players. “Africa needs an AFCON every two years because it allows the national teams to improve,” he said. “With the abolition of CHAN, which I think was a mistake because it showed the work being done on the continent and gave local players and coaches a chance to show their skills, holding CONFON every four years was not a good idea.”
The move to four years followed pressure from FIFA to readjust the international calendar to create space for FIFA’s own events, both commercially and for players. However, for Africa, the AFCON is the continent’s biggest showcase and showcase for its players. Losing half of these tournaments would greatly affect many of them and the Africans responded to the full press of FIFA to change their schedule.
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