Confederation of African Football president Dr Patrice Motsepe sent shockwaves through African football on Saturday with two major announcements that are set to change the face of the continent's football as we know it.
Using the occasion of a press conference ahead of Sunday's 2025 Africa Cup of Nations opener between hosts Morocco and Comoros, Motsepe announced the launch of the CAF African Nations League, while revealing that the continent's flagship tournament -- the AFCON -- would now be played every four years rather than every two years, as has been the case since its inauguration in 1957.
What was said by Motsepe in Saturday's press conference, what are the consequences of his vision for the future of African football, what are the concerns, and what are the unanswered questions following such a historic announcement?
AFCON shifted to every four years
The major announcement of the day concerned the Africa Cup of Nations, the continent's flagship tournament, which has been the main event for the continent's national teams for 68 years.
Traditionally hosted every two years, the competition will shift to being organised every four years from 2028.
The 2027 edition -- currently set to be hosted in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania -- will be scheduled as normal, then there will be a Nations Cup in 2028, and after that, 2032, 2036 etc.
This format has long been on the lips of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who suggested as far back as February 2020 that an AFCON every two years was 'useless', and it was notable that Motsepe was flanked by the FIFA chief's right-hand man, the General Secretary Mattias Grafstrom, as he delivered this announcement.
What is the African Nations League?
Motsepe's second big announcement was the launch of a new competition, the African Nations League, which would emulate the UEFA version and take place every year.
The CAF chief suggested that the competition, which would involve all 54 member associations on the continent, would take place every year in designated FIFA international breaks across September, October and November.
The continent will be regionally divided into four parts, with six countries in the North African zone, and 16 teams in each of the other three regional divisions.
The winners of each regional grouping will then contest the finals, although Motsepe appeared unclear as to whether this would be a four-team or a 20-team event. A 17-day period was mentioned for the Nations League.
Why these changes?
The biennial AFCON had been looking increasingly vulnerable given both the tournament's expansion to 24 teams from 2019, which limited the number of countries which could host the event, creating further logistical problems, and the expansion of the FIFA World Cup.
One of former CAF President Issa Hayatou's main arguments for an AFCON every two years was to compensate for Africa's under-representation at the World Cup; in the days of the continent receiving only one or three places, having a tournament every two years ensured competitive football at a high level for the continent's biggest nations.
With at least nine African countries now being present at the World Cup, this 'need' is not as relevant as it used to be.
Motsepe also pointed to the ongoing club-vs-country debates that have again dominated headlines in the build-up to this competition as one of the reasons why a reduced frequency for the AFCON was inevitable.
"Sunderland have five-six top players who are African," he pointed out, "but they can't compete at their club, [although] all have an emotional bond to our continent.
"It's frustrating for the players. The clubs need them, the countries need them, it's unfair for us to put players in the middle of the fight we have.
"I have a duty to African players, and to the clubs where African players are. I can't say we have no interest in this, it would devalue the African players."
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Financially, he argued that the creation of the African Nations League would open up new and necessary revenue streams to finance his development aims across the continent, helping African football achieve 'financial independence', although without greater transparency on the numbers, it's hard to effectively assess these claims.
"It means more commercial attraction, more money, more sponsors, more partners," he said. "This competition will be in partnership with FIFA, and their presence and partnership attracts the biggest companies not just in the continent but worldwide. Some of the biggest companies in the world want to be a part of African football.
"[It means] more prize money, more competition, better infrastructure, better objectives, the development of stadiums, and for football to take place in all of the 54 countries in Africa."
Attractive goals, of course, but not always coherently joined together.
Motsepe didn't hide the fact that one advantage of the shift in programming was to bring CAF in line with FIFA's more globally focused agenda, ensuring the synchronisation of world football, and there were various hints at world football's governing body being the true driving force behind the changes.
Indeed, Motsepe revealed that Infantino had flown in to join the December 20 CAF executive committee meeting as the decision to change African football's scheduling was ratified.
"We have a duty to 1.5 billion people on the continent, and to African players, to make sure there is more synchronisation in the global calendar," he continued. "This is where Gianni and Matthias [come in], to allow the best players to be in Africa every year as part of the new competition.
"We are FIFA. We're looking forward to making sure the calendar contributes to the growth and development of football.
"I fought, but had to look at the facts, and have to comprise."
What DON'T we know?
With CAF announcing these sweeping changes with little warning and little in the way of documentation or presentation, there are plenty of unanswered questions hanging around the new vision for African football.
If the September to December international breaks, for example, are to be taken up by the Nations League, then how will World Cup and AFCON qualifying programmes work for the continent? How will the continent decide who advances to represent it at FIFA's showpiece as well as its own?
The obvious solution would be to use the Nations League as a qualification campaign -- or at least a partial qualification campaign, as they do in Europe -- but what impact would this have on the prestige and interest in this new venture?
It also remains to be seen what the knock-on effects will be for some of the existing change on the continent; what will it mean for the African Nations Championship (CHAN), for example or for the existing regional tournaments like the COSAFA Cup or the CECAFA Cup?
Surely, a regionally organised African Nations League would make such tournaments redundant and it's unlikely that they will survive into this new era, despite the lineage of the CECAFA Cup, notably stretching back to 1926.
It also remains to be seen whether there is an appetite for such regional competitions given the moderate interest in the existing regional competitions on the continent. That said, they haven't had the investment, the exposure or the availability of the top players that Motsepe is guaranteeing with the new Nations League.
While Motsepe has vowed that this new vision will be like having an AFCON every year, there are many logistics about the interaction between the Nations League and the existing AFCON which aren't clear; will there be Nations Leagues also running in the same years as AFCONs (2032, for example), or will the Nations League take a year off during these calendar years?
Similarly, will there be a fixed window for the AFCON, will it be within a FIFA window, or will the club-vs-country tussles that have characterised the tournament build-up still continue?
Finally, financially, the gamble from CAF, surely, is that a Nations League every year (or at least three out of four years) will compensate for halving the number of AFCONs and having them less frequently.
Approximately 80 percent of CAF's current revenue comes from the biennial Nations Cup, although the governing body's president was unable to give ESPN the specific numbers on how the lost windfall would be compensated for by the new competition.
"Historically, [the Nations Cup] was the prime resource for us but now we will get financial resources every year," Motsepe said. "It's an exciting new structure which will contribute to sustainable financial independence and ensure more synchronisation with the FIFA calendar.
"The AFCON was the prime focus where we'd get resources to fund African football, now, with this new dispensation, we'll get resources every year."
Motsepe seemed overly confident that the sponsorship was not something to worry about and that the revenues would flow, although he said something similar ahead of the launch of Gianni Infantino's African Football League for clubs, which hasn't been revived since the pilot edition in 2023.
If that tournament had realised its financial projections for CAF, then why has it seemingly been abandoned?
More broadly, it remains to be seen whether there is the appetite from African football fans for an "AFCON every year". Based on the evidence of the UEFA Nations League, there's no guarantee that more regular meetings between the top countries will make those encounters feel more special, and indeed, there's the risk that they may dilute the significance of these fixtures given the frequency.
How have the changes been received?
Motsepe exuberantly revealed the reactions of some of the federation presidents, citing, in particular Cameroon FA chief Samuel Eto'o and Egypt's Hany Abo Rida among those who were positively overwhelmed by the move.
"The president of Egyptian football federation stood up, [he was] emotional, excited, and said that the decision we took today is the most important in my 20 years of being involved in African football," Motsepe revealed.
"Eto'o said in the meeting today: 'I am so thankful'."
The CAF chief insists that the switch will be a positive one for players, although that remains to be seen, while response on social media and among the journalists in Rabat has been largely negative, with many decrying Motsepe's perceived weakness in light of FIFA pressure.
Money?
Motsepe also announced an increase to the AFCON prize money, with the pot for the winners set to be increased from $7 million to $10 million. It's still some way behind the prize money received by the winners of the CONMEBOL showpiece the Copa America or UEFA's European Championship.
Future increases to the prize money for both the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup were also announced, with little precision given.