…AFCON Switches To Four Year Cycle
African football is about to hit the reset button and it’s a big one.
The Africa Cup of Nations will switch to a four-year cycle from 2028, ending more than half a century of biennial tradition.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe dropped the bombshell in Morocco, just days before the start of the 2025 finals in Rabat, calling it a necessary move to modernise the continent’s football calendar.
AFCON has been played every two years since 1968, often wedged awkwardly into the middle of the European club season.
From January tournaments to weather-driven reshuffles and Covid chaos, the competition has spent years fighting the calendar.
Now, CAF has chosen clarity over congestion.
The final two editions of the current format are already locked in. East Africa hosts AFCON 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, before another tournament follows in 2028.
After that, AFCON becomes a quadrennial event, staged in the same year as the European Championships.
But this isn’t a retreat — it’s a rebrand.
In its place, CAF will launch an annual African Nations League from 2029.
Fifty-four nations will be split into four regional zones, with matches played in September and October before regional champions collide in November to crown a continental winner.
Motsepe sold it as a game-changer. “We have the most exciting new structure for African football,” he said.
“Every year we will have a competition with 54 African nations and all the best players coming here to play.”
The move, agreed with Fifa president Gianni Infantino, is designed to align Africa more closely with the global football calendar and to keep the continent’s top stars returning home regularly.
There’s also more money on the table. CAF has boosted AFCON winner’s prize money from $7m to $10m, underlining its push to elevate African football’s commercial power.
For now, attention turns to Morocco, where AFCON 2025 will break new ground by running over Christmas and New Year, with the final on 18 January.
Tradition is changing. The calendar is shifting. And African football is betting big on a future that promises fewer clashes, more stars, and world-class competition, every single year.
KEY INFORMATION
• AFCON every four years, effective 2028 – 2032 –2036…
• Increased prize money for the winners of Afcon from $7m to $10m
• Africa Nations League – 2029
By Maxwell Kumoye, Trust Ittai and Oluwatobiloba Zeal-Adepetu Kumoye