The CAF Executive Committee on Thursday confirmed that the AFCON will return to taking place every two years after the initial announcement from President Patrice Motsepe to turn it into a four-year cycle competition, reports www.aclsports.com.
In early October at the CAF Strategy Conference in Cabo Verde, Motsepe confirmed that the CAF EXCO would be reassessing and reconsidering the decision it took last year for the AFCON to take place every four Years.
In a statement released by CAF on Thursday, President Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “The decision by the CAF EXCO that the CAF AFCON should take place every Two Years 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.
”We were also concerned by the several years required before the proposed new Africa Nations League Pan-African competition (which was supposed to be identical to the current AFCON and take place Every Two Years) could make the substantial financial and football development contributions for African Football and CAF competitions to be globally competitive and self-supporting,” he added.
Mostepe also confirmed that the PAMOJA tournament scheduled to take place in East Africa next year will go ahead, adding that the subsequent ones will take place in the years 2028, 2031 and 2033.
”The next TotalEnergies CAF AFCON will take place in 2027 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and I am confident that it will be very successful. The subsequent AFCONs thereafter will take place in 2028, 2031 and 2033.”
”The CAF EXCO decision is in the best interest of African Football and CAF’s 54 Member Associations and will also contribute significantly to the development and growth of football in Africa,” Motsepe concluded.
As things stand, CAF is yet to name the hosts for the 2028 AFCON, while the readiness of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda remains questionable with less than ten months to the competition.
