The Confederation of African Football is reappraising its decision to hold the Africa Cup of Nations every four years, CAF president Patrice Motsepe declared on Friday when he added his organization did not take orders from FIFA or UEFA.
Motsepe, who last December announced the biennial Africa Cup would switch to a four-year cycle from 2028, said on Friday that it was “nonsense, absolute rubbish” that CAF was being dictated to by either the world or European governing body.
The decision at the time, bringing the competition to a schedule that aligned with FIFA’s international calendar, rankled many at the Africa Cup in Morocco, with some saying it was made with European wishes at heart to the detriment of African interests.
Motsepe, a South African billionaire who is also a vice-president of FIFA, appeared stung by the criticism.
“My No. 1 job, my No. 1 duty is to protect, promote, and advance the interests of Africa," he said. "And there are times when I have to stand firm and say, ‘Listen, we’re going to fight on this issue.’ And there are times when I have to say, ‘No.’
“The AFCON — because this is one of the issues we’re talking about — we took a decision as Africa because there were lots of issues, but I can guarantee you we have discussed it over the last few days to say we are looking at everything, including having the AFCON coming back every two years," Motsepe said. “We’re very clear.”
He was speaking at the final day of CAF’s three-day strategy conference in Cape Verde. On Thursday he reiterated the 54-member body’s “unanimous” support for FIFA’s under-fire president Gianni Infantino, and Infantino reminded his potential election voters of investments FIFA has made for African soccer since gaining the job 10 years ago.
Motsepe reaffirmed the next Africa Cup will go ahead as planned in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda next year, despite recent media reports from France saying construction projects were not going to schedule and some CAF members were pushing to have the tournament moved.
“You have to believe in Africa. There will be problems, there will be failures, fine, but we will be there. That’s what Mandela taught us,” Motsepe said.
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