The CAF Executive Committee has decided “unanimously” to keep the AFCON every two years. Patrice Motsepe, the CAF president, had announced in December 2025 a move to a four-year cycle, now abandoned. Joseph-Antoine Bell, former goalkeeper of the Indomitable Lions, called the plan a “deception”.
The Africa Cup of Nations will not change its rhythm. Meeting on 30 October 2026, the members of the CAF Executive Committee ruled “unanimously” in favour of an AFCON kept every two years, according to RFI Afrique. The plan to move to a four-year cycle is therefore abandoned, just under a year after it was announced.
The decision was taken at an Executive Committee meeting, after CAF’s strategic conference held in Cape Verde in early October, according to Prensa Mercosur. The schedule for the next editions is set: 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, then 2028, 2031 and 2033.
Motsepe cites the profitability of the Nations League
To explain the U-turn, Patrice Motsepe puts forward a financial argument. The proposed African Nations League would need several years before generating sufficient revenue, the BBC reports via New Times and Cairo24.
In a statement carried by Matrix News, the CAF president defends the decision: “The decision of the CAF Executive Committee that the AFCON be held every two years is aimed at advancing, protecting and promoting the interests of African football and of CAF’s 54 member associations, as well as those of African players at clubs outside the continent.”
AFCON 2025 also generated a projected profit of $114 million, against $75 million for the previous edition in Ivory Coast, according to Adomonline.
A biennial format rooted since 1957
CAF is in reality reversing a firmly established tradition. The AFCON has been played every two years since 1957, apart from two three-year gaps in the 1960s and a one-year gap between 2012 and 2013, Adomonline recalls, citing the BBC.
The retained calendar provides for a three-year interval between 2028 and 2031, so as to avoid an AFCON falling in the same year as a World Cup, that of 2030, according to RFI. No AFCON is therefore scheduled in 2030.
Joseph-Antoine Bell, former goalkeeper of the Indomitable Lions, defends the format: “We have always played in Africa every two years and it bothered no one on our continent. (…) moving to every four years was a deception,” he told RFI Afrique.
Coaches had raised their voices
Other voices had been raised before the Executive Committee’s decision, according to Prensa Mercosur. Tom Saintfiet, Mali’s head coach, had said in January: “Since the first tournament in 1957, Africa has had its Cup of Nations every two years. We must respect Africa.” Hossam Hassan, Egypt’s head coach, for his part accused CAF of having bent the calendar to European clubs.
Claude Le Roy, former head coach of Cameroon, Senegal, DR Congo and Ghana, was just as direct: “This decision is not for Africa at all. It is for FIFA.”