The Confederation of African Football has confirmed that the Africa Cup of Nations will shift to a four-year cycle starting from 2028, with an annual African Nations League taking place in between tournaments.
CAF president Dr. Patrice Motsepe made the announcement in Morocco on Saturday, just ahead of the 2025 AFCON, which opens on Sunday with Comoros facing the host nation.
Motsepe clarified that the 2027 edition, jointly hosted by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, will go ahead as planned.
However, the subsequent tournament, initially scheduled for 2029, will now be brought forward to 2028, with the next AFCON after that set for 2032.
This change will pave the way for the inaugural African Nations League in 2029. According to Motsepe, all 54 African member associations will participate, split into four geographic zones, with matches in September and October, leading up to the finals in November.
“There’s going to be a competition every year where the best African players who play in Europe and worldwide will be with us on the continent,” Motsepe said.
He did not specify exact dates for the 2028 AFCON, acknowledging the ongoing challenges in scheduling Africa’s flagship national tournament.
This year’s competition had already been postponed from summer to avoid clashing with FIFA’s revamped Club World Cup.
“What’s going to happen now is you’ll have the equivalent of an AFCON every year,” Motsepe added. “You’ll have the best African players in the world participating and playing in African football at the highest level in the continent every year.”
FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström, who stood alongside Motsepe for the announcement, described the move as a “historic decision” and confirmed that FIFA would coordinate with CAF.
“First of all, it’s now up to CAF to decide where the [Africa Cup] competition will be played in 2028, and of course, to give the dates to us,” Grafström said. “I want to stay in touch in order to coordinate as much as possible the dates, like we did for this edition as well. It took a bit of time, but in the end the compromise was found, which was accepted by everyone.”
By aligning AFCON with a four-year cycle, the tournament will now match UEFA’s European Championship, also set for 2028.
“The AFCON now will take place once every four years,” Motsepe said. “Because historically the AFCON was the prime focus where we could get resources to fund African football. In terms of this new dispensation, we will be getting resources every year.”
The move also ensures that there will be no AFCON in 2029, preventing any overlap with the next Club World Cup competition.
