It was a decision that took many by surprise, although not those who have been watching closely since February 2020. Members of the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) executive committee, along with various other dignitaries including George Weah, the former Ballon d’Or winner and president of Liberia at the time, were assembled in Rabat at a seminar to hear Gianni Infantino outline his plan for the development of competitions and infrastructure in African football.
As well as improving standards in refereeing and mobilising investment in the continent’s infrastructure, the president of Fifa floated the prospect of holding its most important tournament, the Africa Cup of Nations, every four years instead of every two and described the current arrangement as “useless”. The argument ran that it would be more beneficial for countries “at the commercial level” and would help to “project African football to the top of the world”. “Let us show the world what we can do,” added Infantino. “This day is special – it’s the start of a new chapter for African football.”
More than five years on and Infantino has got his way. From 2028, a tournament that has caused big disruption to European leagues for more than three decades due to its scheduling in the middle of the domestic season will now take place in four-year cycles. That may be welcomed by many Premier League managers and sporting directors, but there are understood to be widespread fears within several African federations that they will lose out as a consequence, with 80% of Caf’s revenue having historically been drawn from Afcon.
It was instructive to see Caf’s president, Patrice Motsepe, flanked by Fifa’s general secretary, Mattias Grafström, when he confirmed the plans on the eve of the latest edition of Afcon in Morocco at the weekend, despite stating in 2021 that he disagreed with Infantino because “we need the money”. Motsepe, the South African billionaire who also owns Mamelodi Sundowns and is thought to harbour political ambitions in his homeland, is banking on the launch of an annual African Nations League in 2029 to help to fill the gap.
Caf also announced plans on Monday to increase its annual contributions to all 54 of its member associations from $200,000 to $1m (£742,000) a year and also promised that “financial resources will also be allocated to paying competitive salaries to Caf employees”. But it has yet to confirm what will happen to long-running competitions such as the African Nations Championship (Chan), a tournament reserved for players from Africa’s domestic leagues, or existing regional tournaments like the Cosafa Cup for teams in southern Africa.
The role of Caf’s general secretary, Véron Mosengo-Omba, is believed to have been key to implementing Infantino’s will in this case. An old friend of the Fifa president since they studied law together at the University of Fribourg, theman from the Democratic Republic of Congo has been accused of running the confederation as his “proprietorship” and creating a toxic culture of fear where employees are fired for speaking out against him. Mosengo-Omba has not responded to the allegations but he has exerted his control over Caf since moving from his role as Fifa’s chief member associations officer in March 2021, with insiders telling the Guardian that Motsepe has rarely visited its headquarters in Cairo. “In four years of his mandate, he only came twice and met the staff once,” one source said in October.
It is understood that executives at IMG, the sports and marketing company that is now competing against Iris Sport Media (ISM) to be awarded a lucrative eight-year contract with Caf, have expressed concerns over the allegations made against Mosengo-Omba. Motsepe, for his part, has previously expressed “total confidence” in Mosengo-Omba. A move away from holding the tournament every two years also raises questions over whether Caf would still be able to demand $1bn from its negotiations with IMG and ISM given that a deal was thought to be dependent on the Afcon remaining a tournament played every two years.
With scheduling squeezed even tighter by the introduction of two extra matches in European club competitions and Fifa’s new Club World Cup last year, Caf was forced to move Afcon to December after it had been scheduled to take place in the European close season. Not since the 2019 edition in Egypt has the tournament taken place in its originally intended slot, with Infantino having hinted before the 2021 tournament in Cameroon that he would favour it being held in the newly expanded international window that is expected to run from roughly 21 Septemberuntil 6 October, when it is introduced next year. How they would fit a 24-team tournament into three weeks remains anyone’s guess.
Motsepe has been accused of being weak for failing to stand up to Infantino and Fifa. But despite more compelling evidence that African football is now being run from Zurich rather than on the continent, he insisted that closer “alignment and synchronisation” with the best domestic leagues will bring benefits. “I fought, but had to look at the facts, and have to compromise,” he said. “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.”