Fifa: Gianni Infantino proposes to organize the CAN every four years

Text by: Pierre Fesnien Follow

Present in Morocco for a seminar, the president of Fifa advocated that the African Cup of Nations is now held every four years. He mentions economic reasons.

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The organization of the CAN is a perpetual debate and the president of Fifa comes once again to cast doubt on the future of the competition. While in January, the CAN was again modified after the announcement that it would be played in Cameroon in 2021, no longer in summer like that of 2019 but in winter like the previous editions, Gianni Infantino has just made a new proposal that could turn everything upside down.

Present in Salé in Morocco for a seminar on the development of competitions and football infrastructure in Africa, the president of Fifa dropped a bomb. " I propose to organize the African Cup of Nations every four years instead of every two years to make it more commercially viable and attractive globally, " said Gianni Infantino who then lamented that " the revenues from CAN are twenty times less important than those of the Euro. "

The African Cup of Nations today generates twenty times less income than the European Championship.

Gianni Infantino, President of Fifa

CAF will she go in the direction of Fifa?

This idea should be studied in the coming weeks, as CAN 2021 in Cameroon begins to prepare. The CAF often going in the direction of Fifa, it would not be surprising to see it follow the proposal of Infantino in the coming years. This modification could however not take place before 2027 since the previous editions are already attributed to organizing countries (2021 in Cameroon, 2023 in Côte d'Ivoire and 2025 in Guinea).

Especially since CAF has been the subject of an audit since last August , led by Senegalese Fatma Samoura, secretary general of Fifa. For many leaders of African Federations, this is more of a guardianship than an audit. If Infantino asks CAF to revise its calendar, it will therefore probably be difficult to say no.

One billion dollars for African stadiums

A CAN taking place every four years would in any case prevent certain competitions from overlapping, as could have been the case in 2019 with the Club World Cup which took place at the same time as the CAN, which in part led CAF to reschedule the competition in winter for 2021.

On the sidelines of this seminar, Gianni Infantino also promised that Fifa would pay a billion dollars " so that each African country can have a world class stadium " in order to accelerate the development of African football.

#CAF #FIFA Infantino: “FIFA will donate € 1 billion so that each African country can build an international class stadium”

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