Major Changes Announced for AFCON by CAF

Major Changes Announced for AFCON by CAF, Announced Launch of New Tournament

Aishik Das

Published - Dec 20, 2025, 08:53 PM

3 min

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Major Changes Announced for AFCON by CAF, Announced Launch of New Tournament

Summary

CAF has announced major changes from the 2028 AFCON onwards, where the tournament will be held every four years.
This decision comes in the wake of generating the required revenue for the African continent.

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is going to witness some major changes from 2028 onwards. As of now, the AFCON tournament is being held every 2 years, but now its timeline will change as mentioned above. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Patrice Motsepe, has announced this decision just days before the start of the 2025 edition of the tournament.

Since 1968, AFCON has happened every two years, with the only exception being the 2012 and 2013 tournaments. But now, the AFCON will switch to a four-year cycle, similar to the FIFA World Cup. These changes in the AFCON tournament were announced by the CAF president Patrice Mosepe in the presence of the FIFA president Gianni Infantino. He believes that the scheduling will benefit every player and, to an extent, will reduce fixture congestion.

AFCON Set to be Revamped from 2028 Onwards

One of the major changes in the AFCON tournament announced by Patrice Motsepe is that there will be an increase in the prize money for AFCON, from $7m (£5.2m) to $10m (£7.5m). This surprise announcement came after Motsepe had an executive-level meeting before the commencement of the 2025 edition.

The hosting of the AFCON has always caused issues with the normal footballing calendar of the clubs, as the tournament has always been held between crucial games of the club fixtures. However, the CAF has remained firm on its decision so far to host the tournament every two years to generate the required revenue for the African continent.

CAF had decided to hold the AFCON in the month of June-July from 2019 onwards, but the Covid-19 pandemic and the weather conditions in Central and West Africa meant that the 2021 and 2023 editions had to be held at a later stage in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast, respectively. With the FIFA World Cup scheduled to be held in June-July this year, the AFCON was pushed to the Christmas time frame.

The CAF also announced that an African Nations League will also be held in September, October, and November from 2029 onwards. The tournament will comprise 54 teams, with six teams in the Northern Zone and 16 teams in the East, West, and Northern Zones.

Every year in Africa, the best African players who play in Europe will be with us on the continent. Every year we will have a competition with 54 African nations with all the best players coming here to play. We are going to have a world-class competition every year.

It will be interesting to see how the players adapt to this scheduling amidst the club games that they need to feature in. These international tournaments have always caused a rift between the nation and the club, regarding the release of certain players ahead of crucial games. Time will tell how things pan out when things get intense at the club level.