The Confederation of African Football ,CAF, has officially launched the bidding process for the 2028, 2032 and 2036 editions of the Africa Cup of Nations , AFCON, inviting all its 54 Member Associations to compete for the right to host the continent’s biggest football tournament.
CAF announced the decision in a statement published on its official website, marking the beginning of the race to stage the continent’s flagship competition over the next decade.
The governing body said every one of its 54 Member Associations is eligible to submit a bid to host any of the three tournaments, with the process designed to identify hosts capable of delivering world-class events that meet CAF’s technical, commercial and operational standards.
According to CAF, the bidding framework was prepared with the support of of its independent expert adviser, PwC, and its technical, financial and external legal advisers.
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The framework is intended to ensure a transparent, fair and competitive bidding process.
The announcement comes less than a year before preparations gather pace for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The tournament is scheduled to take place from June 19 to July 17, 2027, and will be the first AFCON to be staged across the three East African nations.
CAF has continued to expand the profile and commercial value of the AFCON in recent years, with the tournament attracting record audiences across television and digital platforms.
The AFCON remains Africa’s biggest sporting event and one of the most-watched football competitions in the world, boasting a cumulative global television audience of more than 3.2 billion viewers and over six billion digital views.
The successful hosts of the 2028, 2032 and 2036 editions will have the opportunity to showcase their football infrastructure, tourism potential and organisational capacity while welcoming the continent’s top national teams and millions of football fans from across Africa and beyond.
By Adeboye Amosu
