{"id":895485,"date":"2026-03-30T07:17:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/30\/caf-president-patrice-motsepe-confirms-afcon-expansion-plans-ahead-of-2027\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:17:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T12:17:27","slug":"caf-president-patrice-motsepe-confirms-afcon-expansion-plans-ahead-of-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/30\/caf-president-patrice-motsepe-confirms-afcon-expansion-plans-ahead-of-2027\/","title":{"rendered":"CAF President Patrice Motsepe confirms AFCON expansion plans ahead of 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"

Soccer <\/p>\n

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\"Soccer<\/p>\n

The African cup of nation trophy. Photo by: ImagoxThor Wegner\/DeFodi Images <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u200bThe President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, has confirmed plans to increase the number of AFCON participants, Soccernet.ng reports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u200bCAF and the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) have been in the limelight for both good and bad reasons over the last few months.<\/p>\n

The 2025 AFCON, which concluded in January, attracted significant negative attention following CAF’s controversial decision to strip Senegal of the title and award it to Morocco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Senegalese players celebrating AFCON win (Photo by Imago)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u200bMeanwhile, the competition has been undergoing several changes. Recently, Motsepe announced a restructuring of the tournament that would see the competition held once every four years.<\/p>\n

This decision was reached to make way for the newly introduced CAF Nations League, which will be held every two years. However, Motsepe has now revealed further plans for the revamped version of the Africa Cup of Nations.<\/p>\n

Patrice Motsepe Confirms New Number of Teams For AFCON<\/h2>\n
\"Soccer
CAF President Patrice Motsepe Afcon Final. Copyright: Imagoxshengolpixsx<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u200bCAF held its executive meeting on Sunday, and during the subsequent briefing, Patrice Motsepe confirmed that the number of teams competing at AFCON will be increased to 28.<\/p>\n

\u200bThis is a four-team increment from the current 24-team format. Under the new structure, there will be seven groups of four teams each.<\/p>\n

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CAF BRIEFS MEDIA FOLLOWING ITS EXECUTIVE MEETING<\/p>\n

CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe: we have a new African competition to replace African Nations League (CHAN) with two competition,which is African Nations League Continental and African Nations League<\/p>\n

AFCON will be played every\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/QTs6DqlMSG<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 RushSportsNews (@rushsportsnews) March 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The top two teams from each group will qualify for the Round of 16. However, it remains to be seen how the remaining two spots for the knockout stage will be determined.<\/p>\n

\u200bAside from these updates, everything is expected to go as planned, with the 2027 edition set to be hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, barring any last-minute changes. The next edition will then be in 2031.<\/p>\n

\u200bWith the expansion, major teams like Ghana and Guinea, who missed the 2025 edition, now have a better shot at qualifying.<\/p>\n

\"Soccer
Super Eagles team picture. (Credit: SE Media)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Nigeria, the change may not feel drastic. By the time the 2027 edition kicks off, it will have been 14 years since the Super Eagles last tasted continental glory.<\/p>\n

\u200bNigeria finished third in the most recent edition in Morocco, but Eric Chelle will be hoping to lead his squad to ultimate success next time out.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"<!--Kelvin Omachonu” src=”https:\/\/media.soccernet.ng\/main\/2024\/06\/IMG-20240522-WA0001-150×150.jpg” height=”80″ width=”80″>\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tKelvin Omachonu\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\tKelvin Omachonu is a professional football columnist and sports writer with over half a decade of experience covering major events and delivering captivating, analytically-driven stories.
\nA graduate of the University of Ibadan, he is fueled by a profound dedication to sports journalism and the beautiful game. His insights have previously been featured in respected outlets, including IndyPress UI, UCJ UI Newshive NG, Sportpremi, and a few others.
\nAway from work, Kelvin is an avid fan of basketball, enjoys a great movie, and is always discovering new music.\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>Kelvin Omachonu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Soccer The African cup of nation trophy. Photo by: ImagoxThor Wegner\/DeFodi Images \u200bThe President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, has confirmed plans to increase the number of AFCON participants, Soccernet.ng reports. \u200bCAF and the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) have been in the limelight for both good and bad reasons over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":895486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95264,851,2005],"tags":[115658,6180],"class_list":{"0":"post-895485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-patrice","8":"category-president","9":"category-soccer","10":"tag-patrice","11":"tag-president"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}