CAF scraps 4-year AFCON plan, returns to 2-year cycle: See new schedule

• CAF has scrapped its four-year AFCON plan and restored the two-year cycle.

• The next tournaments are scheduled for 2027, 2028, 2031 and 2033.

• CAF cited the time needed for the proposed Africa Nations League to generate substantial financial resources as one reason for the reversal.

The CAF Executive Committee unanimously approved the change on Thursday, October 29, 2026, following a review of the decision announced in December 2025.

Under the revised schedule, the next AFCON will take place in 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, followed by another edition in 2028. Subsequent tournaments are scheduled for 2031 and 2033.

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The decision reverses CAF’s earlier plan to move to a four-year cycle after the 2028 tournament, with the next edition originally expected in 2032.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe said the reversal was necessary partly because the proposed Africa Nations League would take several years to generate the substantial financial resources needed to support African football.

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The competition was initially expected to replace the biennial AFCON as a major tournament held every two years.

Motsepe said the revised decision was intended to protect the interests of African football and CAF’s 54 member associations, as well as African players employed by clubs outside the continent.

He expressed confidence that the 2027 tournament would be successful and said retaining the two-year cycle would contribute to the development and growth of football across Africa.

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He added:

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In December 2025, CAF announced plans to move AFCON to a four-year cycle after the 2028 edition. The change was intended to align African international football more closely with the global calendar and reduce clashes between national-team competitions and club football, particularly in Europe.

CAF also announced plans for an Africa Nations League, expected to begin in 2029, to provide a major competition for African national teams outside FIFA World Cup years.

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However, CAF said the proposed league would need several years to generate the financial resources required to make its competitions and African football globally competitive and financially self-sustaining.

The governing body has therefore returned to the established AFCON format, which has traditionally been held every two years since 1968.

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Motsepe also emphasised the tournament’s wider significance, describing it as a celebration of African football, cultures and traditions that brings together people from the continent, the diaspora and around the world.