CAF Considers Returning AFCON to a Two-Year Cycle

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe says the organisation is thinking about bringing the Africa Cup of Nations back to a two-year cycle, just months after announcing plans to scrap it.

Speaking at a CAF strategy conference in Cape Verde on Friday, Motsepe stopped short of fully dropping the plan to move to a four-year cycle from 2028. But he made it clear a return to the old calendar is on the table. 

“We’ve discussed it over the last few days. We are looking at everything including having the AFCON coming back every two years. We are very clear,” he said.

He also hinted at why the original plan looked attractive. “There were all sorts of discussions and all sorts of promises that -- at the time we looked at it -- looked very interesting,” Motsepe said.

Motsepe announced the four-year plan in December 2025. FIFA president Gianni Infantino had pushed CAF to make the change back in early 2020. CAF had also planned an African Nations League to fill the gaps left in a stretched AFCON calendar.

Motsepe is known to be close to Infantino, and CAF backed the FIFA boss again this week, even though there has been anger over botched plans for FIFA to set up a commercial arm run with private investors. A U-turn on the AFCON plan would be a notable move away from a decision that seemed to have Infantino’s support.

For now, the future of Africa’s competition cycle is unclear. AFCON 2027 is set for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and the bidding process for the following tournament is already underway.

Motsepe says next year’s finals will go ahead as planned and be a big success. He admitted there are problems with some venues but said they will be fixed. 

“We are going to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda next year. It’s going to be enormously successful,” he said.

He also pointed to the doubts that surrounded the 2021 tournament, which was played in 2022 in Cameroon and was the first under his leadership. 

“When I became president, the first thing they said to me was: ‘Cancel Cameroon. They are not ready; the stadiums are not ready.’ I said: ‘I don’t come from that culture. I come from a culture of believing in Africa,’” he said.