Afcon to be expanded

Dramatic changes to the continent's top competition are on the cards after recommendations made at a symposium on the future of the sport on the continent in Morocco yesterday.

The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals is to be expanded and its contentious timing changed but its frequency will remain every two years, while the African Champions League and African Confederation Cup will now run from August to May.

Moving the Afcon from January ends the club versus country dilemma facing African players based at clubs in Europe.

The tournament is to be moved to June and July, when all major leagues are on a break.

It will now have 24 teams, almost half the membership of CAF in a bid to increase marketing and TV revenue, taking a leaf out of the book of Uefa, which did the same with last year's European Championship in France.

CAF will also demand much stricter hosting standards, particularly on the issue of pitches and hotels, whose poor quality had drawn heavy criticism at past tournaments.

On the level of the club competitions, there is also good news for South African clubs.

This year's expansion of the number of clubs in the group phase of Champions League and Confederation Cup - from eight to 16 - has meant that the top teams in Africa have been forced to play group matches between May and July when they should be on holiday and then preparing for their domestic seasons.