Holding the Nations Cup every four years splits African football | OneFootball

The decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to organize the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) every four years, instead of every two as had been the case until now, has pleased some on the continent, while others see it as a concession to FIFA and European clubs.

The news was announced by South African Patrice Motsepe, president of CAF, on Saturday, the eve of the opening of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco. The continent's most important tournament will be held every four years starting in 2028, with the goal of better aligning with the global football calendar.

This change will be offset by the creation of a new annual competition inspired by UEFA's Nations League, in a format adapted for Africa, which will begin in 2029.

For many, these decisions came as a surprise and, after the initial shock, both favorable and unfavorable reactions have circulated in recent days.

“Since 1957, Africa has hosted the Africa Cup of Nations every two years. But now they say it will be every four years. This is not normal. Africa must be respected,” declared Mali's Belgian coach, Tom Saintfiet, who suspects that FIFA is behind this decision.

His compatriot Paul Put, coach of the Ugandan national team, questioned directly: “Isn’t the problem actually with the World Cup and the Club World Cup?”

Criticism of Infantino

With this, he became the spokesperson for a group of detractors of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who accuse him of maneuvering to prioritize his competitions to the detriment of the Africa Cup of Nations.

FIFA had already been the target of anger from many African national team coaches since its decision to postpone by one week the deadline for clubs to release players to their national teams ahead of this Africa Cup of Nations.

“FIFA decided that players should play their last club match six or seven days before a major tournament. Two of my players were injured in those final matches (Sikou Niakaté and Hamari Traoré),” complained Saintfiet.

“FIFA had already been criticized by many African national team coaches from the start, but we also have a duty to the African players who are in the best clubs in Europe,” said President Motsepe on Saturday. Even within CAF, there was criticism of Motsepe and FIFA.

“The CAF Committee was not consulted before this decision was announced. We were surprised, because this raises organizational issues that require thorough discussions before a final decision can be made,” a source from the Confederation of African Football’s competitions department told AFP.

“Organizing two consecutive editions of AFCON is extremely difficult, especially considering that the 2027 tournament will be played in the summer, which means we will have only two international breaks to organize the qualification phase for the 2028 edition, should it be held at the start of the year (the usual dates for this competition),” the source pointed out.

There have been anomalies in the frequency of AFCON in the past: it was held in 2012 and then in 2013, “but at that time the tournament had only 16 teams, not 24, and the qualification phase was played with knockout matches, not in groups,” the source clarified.

New perspectives

Coaches across the African continent are eagerly awaiting the impact of this important change to the calendar.

“With this change and the new competition (the African Nations League), coaching staffs and players may face a new challenge, with a tournament of the same level and in front of a large audience,” said Samir Trabelsi, coach of Tunisia.

“There are positive aspects and others not so much,” commented Walid Regragui, coach of Morocco.

“The biennial format of AFCON allowed many teams to progress and develop or rebuild quickly after a setback,” he observed.

For Algeria’s captain, Riyad Mahrez, the decision makes AFCON “a more attractive competition” in the future.

*With content from AFP.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.