The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the formation of the new African Nations League to be played annually.
“This guarantees that CAF will host a world class Senior National Team Competition in Africa, every year, in which the best African football players, who plays in the best Football Leagues in the world, will participate. CAF will partner with FIFA on the African Nations League,” confirmed CAF.
The President of CAF Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “We are excited about the new changes that we have introduced, which will make African Senior National Team Competitions amongst the best in the World, with the best African football players who play in the best Leagues in the world, participating, every year in Africa’s Senior National Team Competitions.”
During the year of the FIFA World Cup (2026), CAF will not host an African Senior National Team Competition to enable the 9 or 10 African Countries that will be participating in the FIFA World Cup, to focus on preparing for the World Cup.
CAF added, “The new changes will also result in significant financial and commercial benefits for each of the Football Federations that represent the 54 African Countries that are Members of CAF. The restructuring of the CAF Senior National Team Competitions and the USD 1 billion tender that we have initiated will enable CAF to contribute USD 1 million, every year to each of the 54 CAF Member Associations. This is five times more than the USD 200 000 which each Member Association used to receive before the current CAF leadership was introduced.
“We will allocate a substantial amount of financial and other resources to training and developing young boys and girls football players, as this is amongst the best investments we can make for the future of African Football. The CAF Youth Competitions for boys and girls, Women and Men Club Football in each of our 54 Member Associations and the Zonal or Regional Football Competitions, will all receive increased financial and other resources. Financial resources will also be allocated to paying competitive salaries to CAF employees,” stated CAF.
“Another important benefit of the restructuring and the new changes in African Senior National Team Competitions is the alignment and synchronisation of Football fixtures worldwide, which we have been working on with FIFA and other stakeholders. This alignment or synchronisation will benefit CAF and African Football players who play in the best Football Leagues worldwide.
“We want to ensure that African Football players do not find themselves (as has often been the case) in the calendar or fixture conflict between their Football Clubs and their National Teams. The new changes were also introduced after on-going discussions with CAF’s sponsors, partners and other stakeholders.”
