The Africa Cup of Nations will be staged every four years following an edition planned 2028 in a major change to what is currently a biennial showpiece, African football chief Patrice Motsepe announced on Saturday.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) president revealed the change as part of a significant restructuring of the international game on the continent to help it fit better into a packed global calendar.
An Afcon every two years was a vital source of revenue for African national associations, but Motsepe said the introduction of an annual African Nations League competition – similar to the Uefa Nations League – would now help boost coffers instead.
"Our focus now is on this Afcon, but in 2027, we will be going to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, and the Afcon after that will be in 2028," Motsepe told reporters in Rabat on Saturday, on the eve of the opening game of this year's Morocco-hosted Cup of Nations.
He said a bidding process would be opened up for nations interested in hosting the 2028 Cup of Nations.
"Then, after the Fifa Club World Cup in 2029, we will have the first African Nations League... with more prize money, more resources, more competition.
"As part of this arrangement, the Afcon now will take place once every four years."
INCONVENIENT PLACE IN THE FOOTBALL CALENDAR
The Cup of Nations has usually been held at two-year intervals since the very first edition in 1957, but over the last 15 years, it has struggled to find a convenient place in the global calendar.
This year's tournament in Morocco will be the eighth to be held, going back to the 2012 edition in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
The 2019 edition in Egypt took place in June and July, a move away from the traditional slot at the beginning of the year, seen as a way of appeasing major European clubs by avoiding playing in the middle of their season.
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NATIONS LEAGUE, PRIZE MONEY
But the last two Afcons, in Cameroon in 2022 and Ivory Coast in 2024, reverted to January-February to avoid coinciding with the rainy season in those regions.
The latest Cup of Nations was initially due to take place in June and July this year, but was forced to move because of the first edition of FIFA's expanded Club World Cup in the United States.
However, Caf could not wait until next June because of the 2026 World Cup, and they can no longer stage the Cup of Nations in January and February because of the new Uefa Champions League format.
The solution is to start in December and continue into the New Year, at a time when some European leagues – where so many African stars play – take a break, but the Premier League has a packed schedule.
Motsepe said the change, along with the introduction of the Nations League, was made "to make sure the football calendar worldwide is more in harmony".
"Of course, our primary duty is to African football, but we also have a duty to the players from Africa playing for the best clubs in Europe," he added.
"We want to make sure that there is more synchronisation and that the global calendar allows the best African players every year to be in Africa."
He said the new annual Nations League would start off by being regionalised, with 16 teams each in the east, west and central-southern zones, and six in the northern zone.
Matches will be played in September and October, with the top teams from each zone coming together for the finals to take place in one location in November.
Meanwhile, he said prize money for the Cup of Nations in Morocco would be increased so that the winners receive $10 million, up from seven million dollars for the winners in Ivory Coast in 2024.