African football body restores Africa Cup of Nations’ two-year cycle

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has reversed its plan to hold the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) every four years. Its executive committee voted to retain the two-year cycle, keeping CAF’s biggest revenue-generating tournament on its traditional schedule.

The financial dependence is substantial: the BBC puts projected revenue from Morocco 2025 at $192 million, representing 66% of CAF’s total revenue from men’s, women’s and age-group competitions.

The executive committee had adopted the four-year plan in December 2025 without putting it before the general assembly, where all member nations are represented.

Budget forecasts, not final results

A January 2026 article in AB Magazine places the Morocco revenue forecast in CAF’s 2025/26 budget projections. CAF’s annual report also forecast the tournament’s net profit. The Morocco figures are forecasts, while the publications give different profit figures for the previous edition in Ivory Coast.

What Afcon income supports

Football journalist Maher Mezahi said Afcon income funds CAF’s other competitions. AB Magazine’s January 2026 account also says the tournament’s commercial income supports stadiums, training facilities, tournament operations and football-development programs.

Football Association of Zambia official Sydney Mungala gave a national example: only 2 of Zambia’s 11 national teams receive partial government sponsorship. The association supports the others from its own funds and pays for some programs with support from CAF and FIFA, world football’s governing body.

Members were consulted before the reversal

The first indication of a rethink came at CAF’s October 2026 strategy conference in Cape Verde. CAF asked its 54 member associations whether they preferred the four-year plan or the original schedule before the executive committee reversed course. CAF president Patrice Motsepe said the decision served African football’s interests and would support the sport’s development and growth.

Motsepe says the Nations League needs several years

The proposed Africa Nations League was originally intended to run annually and involve every member country. Its purpose was to reduce CAF’s reliance on Afcon and build a more sustainable commercial model for football development. Motsepe now says it would need several years before making substantial financial and football-development contributions toward a self-supporting African game.

An earlier attempt to build another major income source fell short. The Africa Super League had projected annual revenue of $200 million but was discontinued after 1 edition, the BBC says. Motsepe said commercial partners had not offered the deals CAF expected.

The Africa Nations League’s proposed start is September 2029. The BBC interprets Motsepe’s latest statement as suggesting a competition held every two years rather than annually; that frequency is not a confirmed format.