CAF: a U-turn under fire

The Executive Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has formally approved a return to a biennial format for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), scrapping its plan to move to a four-year cycle.

Afcon will therefore remain a two-yearly event. After the 2027 edition, to be staged in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the next tournaments will be held in 2028, then 2031 and 2033. The break in 2029-30 is down to the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

The decision overturns the vote of 20 December 2025, which had paved the way for a four-yearly tournament from 2028.

Faced with fierce opposition across the continent, and above all with huge financial stakes, CAF president Patrice Motsepe and his organisation have backed down. The loss of revenue from switching to a four-year cycle was put at several hundred million dollars, and by some estimates close to a billion.

FIFA, too, has had to retreat

It is worth noting that FIFA, under its president Gianni Infantino, has had a U-turn of its own. In late July 2026, it unveiled a project called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE): a new commercial subsidiary to run the World Cup and other competitions, with its capital opened up to private investors. The target valuation was $20bn, with $4.2bn to be raised.

The backlash was immediate. UEFA's member associations voted to boycott future World Cups if the plan went ahead, and CONCACAF rejected it outright. Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's long-serving adviser, resigned in protest. According to press reports, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, whose country co-hosted the 2026 World Cup, said he no longer had confidence in Infantino. The project was unveiled on a Tuesday and buried by the following Saturday, with Infantino forced to concede that the FFE "will not proceed". A few days later, FIFA issued an apology, admitting mistakes in its handling of the affair, notably the exclusion of member associations from the process.

CAF's unwavering support

Amid the storm, Africa stood by Infantino. On 6 August, CAF's Executive Committee unanimously reaffirmed its backing for the FIFA president, while endorsing his apology. Morocco's Fouzi Lekjaa, a CAF vice-president, had set the tone by welcoming Infantino's decision to drop the plan.

On 8 October, Motsepe went further. He announced that all 54 African federations would back Infantino unconditionally in the election on 18 March 2027 in Morocco, in recognition of FIFA's support for African football. That bloc accounts for more than a quarter of the 211 votes.