RABAT, Jan 17 : The Confederation of African Football could have done a better job of explaining its decision to move the Africa Cup of Nations from every two to four years but was standing by it, the organisation’s president Patrice Motsepe said on Saturday.
The decision was announced last month and drew heavy criticism, with several African football personalities alleging it was a measure forced upon Africa by FIFA, whose president Gianni Infantino had six years ago advocated that the Cup of Nations be played four-yearly rather than every two years.
Motsepe rejected the assertions of undue influence from Zurich and said they would go ahead with the Cup of Nations every four years after 2028, plus introduce an African Nations League in 2029.
“We didn’t do as good a job at CAF in preparing the ground on this Afcon every four years. We must make sure that our everyday people, who we account to, must understand what we have done is good for them,” Motsepe told a press conference on the eve of the final between Morocco and Senegal in Rabat.
“This is the right decision. We will indeed have a new competition, and it will be enormously successful. African football will be better,” he added.
“We must free ourselves as Africans and have more confidence in ourselves. It should not be about FIFA says this or UEFA says this. We can be convinced we are doing the right things, but it is important everyone on the continent is convinced we are doing the right things too. We have to educate our people on the decisions we have taken. We know that in two, three years people will see what we are talking about.”
The reason Africa has held its Cup of Nations every two years while other confederations play their championship every four years is because the tournament’s revenue used to provide around 80 per cent of CAF’s budget.
However Motsepe said: “The revenue of the Afcon is significantly less than the revenue we have implemented for the African Nations League. We are absolutely convinced it will work.”