CAF president Patrice Motsepe has officially confirmed that the 2027 AFCON will proceed as scheduled and will not be postponed to 2028.
Speaking at the CAF Executive Committee meeting held on February 13 in Dar es Salaam, Motsepe announced that the tournament will take place from June 19 to July 18, 2027.
Addressing recent media speculation, Motsepe firmly dismissed reports suggesting that the tournament could be delayed due to infrastructure and logistical concerns in the host nations.
Over the past week, reports have suggested that the competition might be pushed to 2028.
However, Motsepe described such claims as unfounded and expressed full confidence in the preparedness of the host countries.
“The AFCON in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is going to be enormously successful. Over the last few days, I have seen speculation in the media that I am here to tell these three countries that I’m going to take away the tournament because they are not going to be ready. That is totally unfounded.”
The 2027 tournament will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda .
Expanded AFCON
Motsepe also revealed CAF’s intention to further expand the tournament from 24 to 28 teams in future editions.
“We plan to increase the number of participants in the Africa Cup of Nations from 24 to 28 teams.”
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The AFCON was last expanded in 2019, when the number of participating teams increased from 16 to 24 a move widely praised for giving more nations the opportunity to compete on the continent’s biggest football stage.
The proposed expansion to 28 teams has already been welcomed by many stakeholders across Africa, who see it as a progressive step toward greater inclusion and competitiveness in African football.
