Africa Cup of Nations to remain on two-year cycle after CAF U-turn

The Confederation of African Football on Friday reversed its decision to change the scheduling of the Africa Cup of Nations and said the tournament will remain a biennial event.

Issued on: 30/10/2026 - 17:24

In December, shortly before the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations began in Morocco, Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe announced that the tournament would be held every four years from 2028.

He said the change would allow a proposed new competition, the African Nations League, to be staged for the first time in 2029.

However, after a meeting of CAF’s executive committee in Cairo, Motsepe said there had been no objections to keeping the tournament on a two-year cycle.

“The decision was based on advancing, protecting and promoting the interest of African football and CAF’s 54 member associations, as well as the interest of African players employed by football clubs outside Africa,” said Motsepe in a statement.

"We were also concerned by the several years required before the African Nations League could make the substantial financial and football development contributions for African football and CAF competitions to be globally competitive and self-supporting," he added.

Africa Cup of Nations

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia contested the inaugural Africa Cup of Nations in Sudan in 1957.

In 1959 in Cairo, the United Arab Republic – a political union of Egypt and Syria – won the round robin competition which featured Sudan and Ethiopia.

In the intervening 66 years, the Cup of Nations has developed into a 24-team competition played out over a month.

Egypt, Senegal and Ghana face pressure to relaunch drive for 2027 AFCON

The first two ties in the six-game qualifying campaign for the 2027 event in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda started in September.

The next two matches will be played between 9 and 17 November and the final games will take place next March. 

CAF's announcement comes with the identity of the 2025 champions still unestablished.

Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 in the final in Rabat on 18 January 2026.

But Morocco challenged the result with CAF's appeals committee after Senegal's players walked off the pitch without the referee's permission and delayed the final for 15 minutes.

In March, the CAF panel stripped Senegal of the title and awarded it to Morocco.

However, Senegal have appealed against that decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

On 8 October, the court's three judges heard evidence from the Moroccan and Senegalese football federations as well as from the CAF.

Eleven days later, a CAS statement said the judges will issue a full explanation of their decision at the end of November.

(with newswires)

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