Africa Cup of Nations to be held every four years after 2028 edition

AFCON now move from its long-standing two-year cycle to a four-year format starting from 2028, aligning it with other major continental championships around the world.

The announcement was made by CAF president Patrice Motsepe, who described the competition as a landmark step designed to bring Africa’s best players home every year and maintain a consistent flow of high-profile matches across the continent.

“The African Nations League will be the equivalent of an AFCON every year,” he said. The competition will be organized in partnership with FIFA, a move CAF believes will help attract elite sponsors and elevate the global profile of African international football.

“Every year in Africa, the best African players who play in Europe will be with us on the continent,” Motsepe added. “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.”

“Our focus now is on this AFCON, but in 2027 we will be going to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, and the AFCON after that will be in 2028,” Motsepe told reporters in Rabat on Saturday, on the eve of the opening game of this year’s Morocco-hosted Cup of Nations.

He said a bidding process would be opened up for nations interested in hosting the 2028 Cup of Nations.

“Then, after the FIFA Club World Cup in 2029, we will have the first African Nations League… with more prize money, more resources, more competition. As part of this arrangement, the AFCON will take place once every four years.”

The Cup of Nations has usually been held at two-year intervals since the very first edition in 1957, but over the last 15 years, it has struggled to find a convenient place in the global calendar.

This year’s tournament in Morocco will be the eighth to be held.

Meanwhile, he said prize money for the Cup of Nations in Morocco would be increased so that the winners receive $10 million, up from seven million dollars for the winners in the Ivory Coast in 2024.