The decision to hold the Africa Cup only every four years has sparked a debate among those who see it as a concession to FIFA and the powerful European clubs.
25.12.2025, 15:48
25.12.2025, 15:55
SDA
South African CAF President Patrice Motsepe caused a sensation on Saturday ahead of the opening of the 2025 tournament in Morocco. The Africa Cup is to be held every four years from 2028 and no longer every two years in order to harmonize the global football calendar.
In return, a new annual competition based on the UEFA Nations League and tailored to the African continent will be introduced from 2029.
Among the African football players currently at the Africa Cup in Morocco, who were all surprised by the announcement, it was the Belgian national coach of Mali, Tom Saintfiet, who was the first to attack the African FA CAF and FIFA, whom he suspected of being behind this decision.
Africa must be respected
"Africa has organized the Africa Cup every two years since 1957. But now they say it will be held every four years. That is not normal. Africa must be respected," he thundered before his team's first match.
His compatriot Paul Put, coach of Uganda, asked directly: "Maybe the problem is with the World Cup and the Club World Cup?". This made him the mouthpiece of many of Gianni Infantino's critics, who accuse the FIFA President of favoring his competitions at the expense of the Africa Cup.
Criticism of FIFA
FIFA had already come under fire from African national team coaches when it decided to extend the deadline for clubs to make their national team players available for the 2025 Africa Cup by one week. "FIFA has decided that players must play their last game for their club six or seven days before a major tournament. Two of my players got injured in their last games," Saintfiet ranted.
"Of course our first duty is to African football, but we also have a duty to the African players who play for the best clubs in Europe," the continental association's president Motsepe emphasized on Saturday. "We want to ensure that there is more synchronization and that the world calendar allows the best African players to be in Africa every year," he added.
Surprising decision
Even within CAF, Motsepe is accused that by changing the frequency of the continent's showpiece tournament, he would allow powerful European clubs - where most African stars play - and FIFA to no longer be forced to release their African internationals for more than a month every two years.
"The committee was not consulted before this decision was announced. We were surprised because it raises organizational issues that require in-depth discussion before a final decision can be taken," a source from the committee's competition department told AFP. "Organizing two consecutive Africa Cup editions is extremely difficult, especially since the 2027 tournament will take place in the summer, which means we only have two international breaks to organize the qualifiers for the 2028 edition when it is scheduled to take place at the beginning of the year," she continued.
And even though this was already the case for the 2012 and 2013 editions, "back then," the source continued, "the tournament only consisted of 16 teams, not 24, and the qualifiers were played in head-to-head matches rather than group stages, which is difficult to replicate today."
The continent's national coaches are calling for them to be shown what the change to the schedule will actually achieve. "With this change and the new competition (the Nations League), there is perhaps a new challenge for the coaching staff and the players, in a tournament at the same level and in front of a large audience," emphasized Tunisian national coach Samir Trabelsi, who was sceptical from the outset.
"There are positive and less positive aspects," philosophized Walid Regragui, his Moroccan counterpart, adding nostalgically: "The two-year format of the Africa Cup allowed many teams to progress and develop or to rebuild quickly after a failure. We are in a good position to establish that."
Algerian captain Riyad Mahrez, who was taken somewhat by surprise, made himself the mouthpiece of those in favor of the measure: "I believe it will make the competition more attractive," he said.
