24 teams will contest the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), when the next tournament takes place in 2019, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed.
CAF’s Executive Committee rubber-stamped the proposal on Thursday, at a meeting in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.
Africa’s flagship sporting event has featured 16 teams since 1996.
However, a decision on whether the finals will be moved from January and February to June and July, is still awaited.
President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and President of AFCON, Amaju Pinnick, on Wednesday in Rabat, explained why CAF considered the expansion of AFCON from 16 to 24 nations.
“This proposal is hinged on sporting, commercial and infrastructural reasons, and we believe that sooner than later, everyone would come to appreciate the position of the proponents of a bigger Africa Cup of Nations.
“George Weah from Liberia became the only African to have been named the World Player of the Year, same year he was voted the African Player of the Year and European Player of the Year. He is from a nation (Liberia) many would consider a minnow in the African game. If we have a bigger AFCON, there will definitely be more talented players coming onto the stage, and we could just discover that the next ‘Weah’ would come from either Djibouti or Botswana.
“For commercial reason, more corporate organizations and stakeholders will be involved and it is certainly a bigger cake for everyone. CAF will be richer and the Member Associations will surely benefit. When UEFA staged the European Championship in 2012, when it was a 16 –team event, they made a profit of $1.5 billion. Last year, when they staged a 24 –team event for the first time, they made $2.1 billion.
“Having a 24–team AFCON will also compel the development of stadia facilities across the African continent, as CAF will certainly encourage co-hosting, and this will also ginger general infrastructural development in the continent,” he said.
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