The Confederation of African Football (CAF) claim that the new four-year cycle proposed for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON), which it organises, aligns with the broader interests of clubs, players, and national teams, and has continued to generate diverse reactions across the continent. CHRISTIAN OKPARA reports that some are accusing CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe, of taking unilateral action to appease his European friends at the expense of the continent’s game.

IN whose interest is the recent change in the term (from two to four years) of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF)? This and many such questions have been making the rounds among African football stakeholders since CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe, announced that the continental football showpiece will now be held every four years.
Motsepe, on December 20, 2025, said the continental championship will now adopt a four-year cycle beginning after the 2028 edition, with the next tournament set for 2032.

This major shift, announced during a press conference in Rabat, Morocco, venue of the 2025 AFCON, also coincided with the unveiling of a new continental tournament – the African Nations League – which will debut in 2028 and be held yearly from 2029.

The new cycle, Motsepe explained, aligns with the broader interests of clubs, players, and national teams, particularly in resolving club-versus-country conflicts for African players plying their trade in Europe.
He said: “It’s unfair for players to be forced to choose between their clubs and their countries during mid-season. We’ve got a duty to protect them. This adjustment will serve Africa better and reduce scheduling pressures.”

The new African Nations League, which replaced the now scrapped African Nations Championship (CHAN), according to Motsepe, guarantees that CAF will host a world-class senior national team competition in Africa every year, in which the best African football players, who play in the best football leagues in the world, will participate.

He said that CAF will partner with FIFA on the African Nations League, adding: “We are excited about the new changes that we have introduced, which will make African senior national team competitions amongst the best in the world, with the best African football players who play in the best leagues in the world, participating, every year in Africa’s senior national team competitions.”

Motsepe also said that the new changes will result in significant financial and commercial benefits for each of the 54 CAF member football federations.

In monetary terms, he said that the changes will enable CAF to contribute $1 million every year to each of the 54 member associations. This is five times more than the $200,000 that the countries currently receive. He also listed developmental programmes that will accrue from the new changes.

Actually, Africa is not the first continent to change from a biennial championship to a quarterly event. The oldest continental championship in the world, the Copa America, which was founded in 1916 by South American countries, has undergone several calendar changes since it was first held in celebration of Argentina’s 100th independence anniversary. It began as the South American Football Championship, a biennial competition, and was renamed the Copa América in 1975.
The tournament’s format has evolved over the years, and since 1993, national teams from other continents have been invited to participate. Mexico and the United States were the first non-CONMEBOL teams to play in the tournament, with Mexico finishing as runner-up in 1993.

The Copa América was held at irregular intervals (yearly, biennially, or even after longer gaps) until it adopted a quadrennial format in 2007.
The Asian Cup, just like the Copa America, is also held every four years, but the Gold Cup, a 16-team championship organised by the Confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), is held every two years.
All these changes were made to align with the European calendar, since the best players from other continents play in European leagues.

In the African context, however, some stakeholders believe that the change was unnecessary, as the AFCON had peculiar circumstances that dictated its biennial schedule.
Some top African football stakeholders, including some members of the CAF executive committee, accuse Motsepe of taking a unilateral decision without consulting member federations.

According to London’s Guardian newspaper, several presidents of African football federations said that they were not informed of the decision until it was surprisingly announced by Motsepe, prompting claims that the confederation breached its statutes by failing to seek approval at a general assembly.
Accusing Motsepe of harbouring an agenda different from the collective aspirations of the majority, a CAF executive committee member, who pleaded anonymity, said that the decision was already made before it was foisted on the continent.

“They said it would be discussed in Morocco, but in the end, there was no discussion. We’re killing ourselves. If there had been a general assembly and all the presidents were allowed to vote, it would never have passed.”
The report said the move to a four-year cycle was first raised during a meeting involving some of CAF’s ExCo about a month before Motsepe’s announcement, although it quoted a CAF spokesperson denying that any such meeting took place.
But beyond the debate on the circumstances that led to the change in calendar, former Nigerian captain Sylvanus Okpalla describes the switch from a biennial championship to a four-year cycle as the best thing to happen to the AFCON.

Okpalla’s reason is that the change will best serve the interests of African players, who have suffered significant financial and professional losses because they are often forced to leave clubs mid-season to participate in the AFCON every two years.
Okpalla said: “One very clear thing is that the money is in Europe. African players always leave their teams for the African Nations Cup, and this usually causes friction in their relationship with their teammates.”

“Some of the big European clubs don’t sign African players anymore because of the constant travel to play in the championship. But changing to a quadrennial calendar when the leagues in Europe have ended will serve both the clubs and the African players very well. It will also bring money to the continent through television views because many people from outside Africa will tune in to watch the AFCON when other competitions are on break.”

On the allegation that the change will deny the smaller countries, which usually do not have the capacity to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, the opportunity to test their teams against the continent’s big boys, Okpalla said that football has changed, and any country that plans its football well can qualify for the big championships.

“People who say that the change and the scrapping of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) will further make it difficult for home-based players to play for their countries should learn from what we did when we handled the Super Eagles and won the AFCON in 2013.

“If a player has the quality to play for the national team, no matter where he is based, he should be given the chance to represent his nation.

“When I worked with Stephen Keshi, we took six home-based players to the Nations Cup in South Africa with two of them regulars in the starting 11, and we won the championship.

“In fact, the starters would have been four, but Azubuike Egwuekwe and Gabriel Reuben were injured on the eve of the championship and returned to camp with a few games left to play in the competition.”

He said that playing the championship every two years will not guarantee that home-based players will be allowed to represent their countries unless the federations have deliberate policies aimed at ensuring that they get that chance.

“Now that it is still a biennial championship, how many home-based players participate in it? Apart from South Africa and some of the North African countries, almost all the other teams rely wholly on Europe-based players. So, you see, it is not a function of the frequency of the championship. It is a systemic problem that must be addressed for the continent’s football to develop its stars at home.”

Unlike Okpalla, who supports CAF’s move to hold the championship every four years, another former Super Eagles captain, Henry Nwosu, said that the competition would have served the continent better in its current format.
Nwosu said that four years is a long time to wait to witness the continent’s biggest sporting competition. “Those who argue that CAF finds it difficult to find hosts for the championship because of the enormous cost involved should look at Morocco’s books after the last AFCON. Morocco made a humongous profit, which should entice other African countries to bid to host it.

“Hosting the AFCON allows the hosts to develop their facilities. If these countries manage their budgets carefully without corruption derailing anything, they will make enough money from the championship.”

Sports analyst, Sabinus Ikewuaku, dismissed the argument that the newly introduced African Nations League will fill the gap created by the change in the AFCON calendar.
He said that the new league “may suffer the same fate CAF is trying to run away from because the bulk of the players will still come from European clubs.

“We just like to copy Europe when we don’t have the facilities to do the things the Europeans do. Movement within the continent is a hazardous venture because the transportation system in most countries is not sufficiently developed.

“Again, scrapping the CHAN for the league system means that the home-based players in most of the member countries will be denied the opportunity to play international football. If that is the case, then how do we develop our local talent? CAF should rethink the idea.”

Super Eagles forward Ademola Lookman describes the change from a biennial to a quarterly championship as a “shame” for African football lovers.
The former African Footballer of the Year, who just switched clubs from Italy’s Atalanta to Atletico Madrid of Spain, said the change will deny Africans the excitement and cultural significance of a tournament they have long enjoyed every two years.

“The decision has been made, we can’t really change it,” Lookman said. “I mean, it is a shame for Africans not being able to get the tournament every two years like we have been used to; it is a disappointment.”