Caf's Decision to Breathe New Life into Africa Cup of Nations Leaves Many Questioning the Future of the Tournament
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations has been a vintage edition, with its unique blend of late twists, ridiculous goals, and dramatic storylines captivating fans across the continent. The knockout stages saw star names step forward, including Brahim Díaz, Victor Osimhen, and Ademola Lookman, who led hosts Morocco to a major wobble against Tanzania. However, it's hard not to feel that the tournament's future has been put on hold after Caf announced its decision to switch the Africa Cup of Nations from an annual event to every four years starting in 2028.
The news was announced on the eve of the tournament and appears to have left several African football federations feeling miffed, with some even claiming they weren't consulted. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, first pushed for this change back in 2020 but later claimed that Caf needed to cut down one of its many competitions in order to allow more games to take place worldwide.
The decision has sparked a lot of debate and left fans wondering if the tournament's future is secure. It seems that Caf had already made up their minds about changing the format months ago, as revealed by an unnamed top-flight manager who spoke to Big Website.
On another note, Eagles fans haven't had the best week, what with Crystal Palace being knocked out of the FA Cup by Macclesfield and captain Marc Guéhi imminently joining Manchester City for a cut-price £20m.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations has been a vintage edition, with its unique blend of late twists, ridiculous goals, and dramatic storylines captivating fans across the continent. The knockout stages saw star names step forward, including Brahim Díaz, Victor Osimhen, and Ademola Lookman, who led hosts Morocco to a major wobble against Tanzania. However, it's hard not to feel that the tournament's future has been put on hold after Caf announced its decision to switch the Africa Cup of Nations from an annual event to every four years starting in 2028.
The news was announced on the eve of the tournament and appears to have left several African football federations feeling miffed, with some even claiming they weren't consulted. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, first pushed for this change back in 2020 but later claimed that Caf needed to cut down one of its many competitions in order to allow more games to take place worldwide.
The decision has sparked a lot of debate and left fans wondering if the tournament's future is secure. It seems that Caf had already made up their minds about changing the format months ago, as revealed by an unnamed top-flight manager who spoke to Big Website.
On another note, Eagles fans haven't had the best week, what with Crystal Palace being knocked out of the FA Cup by Macclesfield and captain Marc Guéhi imminently joining Manchester City for a cut-price £20m.
. On one hand, I get why they wanna mix things up to make it more competitive & all that jazz 
. But on the other hand, annual events are a big deal for us Africans – we love our football tournaments as much as anyone else! 
It's like they're taking away a part of our culture, you know? 
Plus, what about the smaller nations who don't have a huge following or resources to compete every year? Won't that kinda create an uneven playing field? 
I just wish Caf would've had a more open conversation with all the stakeholders before making such a big change 
. Can't we find a middle ground here? 
The whole switching to every 4 years thing has left me feeling like Caf made up their minds months ago 
But you know how it is, some decisions can't be rushed, right? It's not like they're taking away our annual AFCON fix or anything 
What really gets me though is the lack of communication with the African federations 
And don't even get me started on the future of the tournament... will it still be as competitive? Will we see more new talent rise to the top? 
. i mean i get it, they wanna make changes and give the games more importance but does it have to be every 4 years? 
idk what kinda games the top teams are gonna play if not every year... its like theyre just gonna sit out for a yr or somethin 
hope marc guéhi finds his feet at manchester city. and macclesfield lol 
. i feel em, those african football federations gotta be hella salty about not being consulted beforehand 
. and why did caf need to make this decision in the first place? fifa's been pushing for it since 2020 and now they're trying to cut down one of their own tournaments just to accommodate more games worldwide 
but honestly who's gonna be watching afcon if it just happens every 4 yrs lol not saying its the end of the world but it's definitely a big change 
on Africa's premier football stage. I mean, Caf needs to sort out some of the other competitions first before doing that. It's not like the tournament is failing or anything... 
And what's with the lack of consultation? Big Website got the scoop, but who knows how many others were in the dark? 
Not sure if this change will even make things better for the players and fans... 
Sources would've been nice, you know? Don't get me wrong, the tournament's been awesome this year, but switching it up so drastically might just lose some fans. What do we even get from hosting a biennial event if there's only one every 4 years? The scheduling conflicts are gonna be major... and what about smaller teams that rely on AFCON for revenue? 
. And what's with not consulting some of the smaller federations? It's their tournament, after all 
This new every-four-years thing is gonna be a nightmare to organize and will probably lead to some teams being unfairly penalized 
. And now the fans are left wondering if it's all worth it 
...
... poor Eagles fans 
.
and then expecting us to just adapt 
. And now I'm worried about next year's edition... will it even happen? 
I'm like so confused about this decision 
! What's next, are they gonna switch the FIFA World Cup to bi-annually too?! 
This decision is gonna have a ripple effect, mark my words!