The CAF Executive Committee, convened by its president Patrice Motsepe, is studying a return of AFCON to a two-year cycle. The ordinary General Assembly on 21 November 2026 in Abuja is due to take it forward.
The Confederation of African Football is preparing its ordinary General Assembly. President Patrice Motsepe convened the members of the Executive Committee by videoconference as the ExCo prepares for that meeting. According to Foot Afrique, the body is studying a return of the men’s AFCON to a biennial schedule.
The matter is not settled: it is a line of work, not a confirmed decision, and the ExCo’s official resolutions have not yet been published. Other items, however, are already fixed in the calendar: AFCON 2027 in East Africa, the Super Cup in Johannesburg, the CAF Awards in Lagos and the Women’s Champions League in December.
AFCON every two years under consideration
According to Foot Afrique, CAF is studying an official return of the continental tournament to a two-year cycle, instead of four. Under that plan, after the 2027 edition in East Africa, the next would take place in 2029 instead of 2028.
Nothing indicates at this stage that the ExCo has approved that option, with the source mentioning only a study. Caution remains the order of the day until the official resolutions are made public. Television and commercial rights for future AFCON editions are also among the priorities under discussion.
The dates already set
The calendar for the coming months, by contrast, is known. AFCON 2027 is scheduled from 1 June to 18 July 2027, jointly in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Three host countries for a single edition.
The CAF Super Cup final between Mamelodi Sundowns and USM Alger is set for 8 November in Johannesburg. In December, the final phase of the CAF Women’s Champions League is scheduled from 1 to 15, while the 2026 CAF Awards ceremony will be held on 7 December in Lagos, Nigeria.
Abuja, the next milestone
CAF Secretary General Samson Adamu presented a progress report on continental governance to the ExCo members. The document will feed into the discussions at the ordinary General Assembly, scheduled for 21 November 2026 in Abuja, Nigeria.
It is therefore in Abuja that the AFCON format could be discussed by the governing bodies. In the meantime, CAF has not published the conclusions of its videoconference meeting: the official publication of the ExCo’s resolutions is still to come, and the biennial calendar remains a hypothesis.