The Africa Cup of Nations will return to a two-year cycle after the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee unanimously reversed a decision made last year to stage the tournament every four years. CAF confirmed the change on Thursday, restoring the competition’s traditional rhythm while abandoning plans to replace it with a new Africa Nations League Pan-African Competition on the same timetable.
CAF president Patrice Motsepe said the proposed replacement would need several years before generating enough financial and football-development benefits to make the confederation’s competitions globally competitive and self-sustaining. He said the revised decision was intended to protect the interests of African football, CAF’s 54 member associations and African players employed by clubs outside the continent.
The next AFCON will be held in 2027 and co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. CAF has scheduled the following editions for 2028, 2031 and 2033. The three-year gap after 2028 is linked to the 2030 Fifa World Cup: CAF said the continental finals cannot take place in the same year as the global tournament under the established international calendar tradition.
The reversal followed Motsepe’s announcement during a CAF strategy conference in Cabo Verde earlier this month that the four-year plan was being reassessed. The final decision turns an earlier restructuring into a short-lived policy shift and leaves AFCON once again operating as a recurring competition for national teams.
The schedule will affect clubs outside Africa because national-team players could be called away for AFCON every two years rather than every four. CAF presented that issue as part of the reason for its decision, but the available statements did not identify any specific club reaction. The change was announced as European leagues prepared for a weekend that also included domestic cup fallout, including Everton’s 3-1 win over Newcastle after Jack Grealish was omitted for what the club described as a disciplinary breach.
Elsewhere, Bournemouth manager Marco Rose said Junior Kroupi would not yet be restored to a starting role after returning from a foot injury that kept him out for the first three months of the season. Kroupi appeared in the club’s win over Manchester United and made a late substitute appearance in the Carabao Cup victory over Aston Villa, while Alex Scott remained sidelined by a thigh injury. Brighton were also hopeful that Chema Andres and Ferdi Kadioglu could return against Manchester City after hip injuries, although Pascal Struijk was unavailable with an undisclosed knock.