CAF President, Patrice Motsepe
The Confederation of African Football has revealed plans to expand the Africa Cup of Nations from 24 to 28 teams as part of efforts to grow football across the continent.
The announcement was made after an Executive Committee meeting in Cairo, where CAF President Patrice Motsepe outlined the vision behind the proposal.
According to him, increasing the number of participating nations will provide more opportunities for countries to compete and showcase their talent.
“We want to increase it to 28 countries… This will allow more nations to compete, showcase their talent, and contribute to the growth of African football,” Motsepe said.
Details of the new tournament format are yet to be confirmed, and CAF has not indicated when the expanded structure will take effect.
The next edition of AFCON will still follow the current 24-team format and is scheduled to be hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda between June and July 2027. Qualifiers for the tournament are expected to begin in August/September.
Meanwhile, Ghana national football team, four-time champions of the competition, missed out on qualification for the most recent edition in Morocco and have not won the title since 1982.
