The 35th edition of the African Cup of Nations (CAN) is scheduled to begin on Sunday, December 21, with the match between host country Morocco and the Comoros. On the eve of this meeting, Patrice Motsepe, the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), took advantage of a press point organized to make several announcements, including one which will revolutionize the competition: generally organized every two years since its first edition, in 1957 in Sudan, the CAN will only return every four years from 2028.
This change is part of the desire to restructure football on the African continent so that its “calendar around the world is better harmonized”declared the South African leader. Concretely, after the CAN which will take place in Morocco from December 21 to January 18, the competition will return in the summer of 2027, for the 36th edition, in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The next one will take place in 2028 – the organizing country has not yet been designated – then « the CAN will take place every four years »specified Patrice Motsepe.
The announcement by the president of CAF is in line with the wish expressed, in February 2020, by Gianni Infantino. During a seminar in Rabat, the president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) pleaded for moving from a biannual competition to a quadrennial meeting. A modification of the calendar which should make it possible to make the CAN “more commercially viable and attractive”according to the Swiss leader.
An annual African League of Nations from 2029
By obtaining the transition to a CAN every four years, Gianni Infantino is making room in the international calendar for his Club World Cup with the revisited formula, the first edition of which took place last summer and which will return in 2029. Indeed, the organization of the African continental competition, which took place every two years at fluctuating periods, has regularly caused turmoil over the last fifteen years. Even recently, FIFA postponed by one week the date of making players who will compete in the CAN available for their selection, under pressure from the clubs.
But this modification of the calendar did not happen without compensation, as Patrice Motsepe clarified. The CAF leader announced that the bonus intended for the winner of the CAN organized in Morocco would amount to 10 million dollars (8.5 million euros), compared to 7 million dollars for Côte d’Ivoire, winner of the previous edition, in 2024. In addition, the African confederation will organize every year, from 2029, an African League of Nations, based on the model of the European League of Nations, created in 2018.
“Historically, the CAN was the main event where we could raise the resources necessary to finance African football. With this new configuration, we will obtain funds every year”explained the president of CAF, for whom this news gives “will contribute to the development of world-class stadiums and football infrastructure in each of the 54 countries in Africa”.
