Ivory Coast head coach Emerse Faé has publicly backed CAF’s decision to stage the Africa Cup of Nations every four years from 2028, insisting the controversial move could accelerate the development of football across the continent.
CAF president Dr Patrice Motsepe confirmed the change ahead of AFCON 2025 in Morocco, bringing an end to the tournament’s long-standing two-year cycle, which has been in place since 1968, aside from a one-year gap between the 2012 and 2013 editions.
Under the new structure, the current format will conclude with the 2027 tournament in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, before AFCON officially transitions to a four-year schedule. The move has sparked widespread debate, with critics arguing CAF is yielding to pressure from European clubs and FIFA.
However, Faé — who guided Ivory Coast to AFCON glory in 2024 — believes the shift could be positive if paired with broader structural reforms.
“It can be a good thing if alongside that we do what we need to do for the development of African football,” he told AFP.
Faé pointed to improved infrastructure, stronger domestic organisation and the growing presence of African players at elite European clubs as reasons the continent is better positioned for change.
“We are lucky in Africa now to have better infrastructure, better structured teams, better players, most of whom play for the best teams in Europe,” he added.
Motsepe has also announced plans to introduce an annual African Nations League from 2029, a competition Faé believes could fill the competitive gap created by the AFCON schedule change.
“Holding AFCON every four years would mean having a major tournament every two years with the World Cup too, but there needs to be another major competition in Africa like the planned Nations League,” Faé said.
He argued that regular high-level matchups between top African nations would raise standards across the board.
“That would allow us to have games like Morocco against Senegal every year, or Ivory Coast against Tunisia, Algeria against Mali.”
