The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced a series of new dates and host nations for its upcoming tournaments across the 2026 and 2027 seasons. The highlights include setting the official dates for the next Africa Cup of Nations and granting Egypt the right to host the U-23 AFCON, which serves as the qualifying tournament for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Other key decisions included scheduling the CAF Super Cup in South Africa, awarding the youth tournaments to Ghana and Morocco, and assigning the Futsal and Beach Soccer tournaments to Morocco and Senegal, respectively. CAF emphasized that finalizing these dates and host countries aims to give associations, clubs, and national teams ample time for planning and preparation.
AFCON 2027 Dates and Qualifiers
The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda from June 19 to July 17, 2027, marking the first time three countries will co-host the prestigious tournament.
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Group Stage Qualifiers: Kick off during the FIFA window from September 21 to October 6, 2026.
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Matchdays 3 & 4: Scheduled between November 9 and 17, 2026.
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Matchdays 5 & 6: Conclude the qualifiers from March 22 to 30, 2027.
The draw has placed Egypt in Group B alongside Angola, Malawi, and South Sudan, with the top two teams qualifying for the finals.
Egypt Hosts the U-23 Olympic Qualifiers
CAF has officially granted Egypt the hosting rights for the 2027 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations, the tournament that will determine the continent’s football representatives for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The upcoming qualifiers will feature a new distribution of Olympic quotas. Only two African teams will qualify for LA 2028, a reduction from the four African representatives at Paris 2024. This decrease follows a decision to shrink the men’s Olympic football tournament from 16 to 12 teams, while the women’s tournament has been expanded to 16 teams.
While CAF’s August 10 statement confirmed the tournament will take place in Egypt in 2027, specific dates will be announced later. This event is separate from the 2027 African Games, which Cairo is also hosting. Egypt previously hosted the U-23 AFCON in 2019—winning the title against Ivory Coast—and finished as runners-up in the 2023 edition held in Morocco.
South Africa to Host the CAF Super Cup
The city of Tshwane, South Africa, will host the CAF Super Cup clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Algeria’s USM Alger on Sunday, November 8, 2026.
The match will kick off at 3:00 PM local time (and Cairo time), which is 1:00 PM GMT. Sundowns enter the contest as CAF Champions League winners after defeating AS FAR, while USM Alger secured their Super Cup spot by winning the CAF Confederation Cup against Zamalek via a penalty shootout.
New Tournaments and Further Host Nations
CAF’s busy agenda also included announcements for several other major competitions:
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U-20 AFCON: To be held in Ghana in February and March 2027.
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U-17 AFCON: Hosted by Morocco in April and May 2027.
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Futsal AFCON: Set for October 12 to 21, 2026, in Morocco.
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Beach Soccer AFCON: Scheduled for November 2026 in Senegal (exact dates TBD).
Furthermore, CAF is studying the launch of a U-17 Women’s AFCON starting in 2027, provided sporting and organizational requirements are met. The Executive Committee also discussed the proposed format for the CAF Nations League.
At the club level, the preliminary first-leg matches for the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup will take place between September 4 and 6, 2026, with the second-leg fixtures scheduled from September 11 to 13.
