Four-nation southern Africa bid confirmed for AFCON 2028
South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe have confirmed a joint bid to co-host the 2028 Africa Cup of Nations, positioning a four-country model as a commercially efficient way to stage the tournament and spread infrastructure and operational costs.
South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe have submitted a joint bid to co-host the 2028 Africa Cup of Nations, an approach that would make it the first time four countries have staged the tournament as a single event.The bid, confirmed by Botswana Football Association president Tariq Babitseng, puts southern Africa back into the hosting conversation after recent editions were staged in central, west and north Africa, with the 2027 finals due to be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.Babitseng said: “We submitted on time to host the tournament in southern Africa. We have the transport routes and the infrastructure to host a successful tournament.”The commercial case for a multi-host structure is built around distributing venue requirements and event delivery risk, while creating a broader footprint for sponsors, tourism and host-city activation.A four-country approach also offers a practical solution to CAF’s tightening demands around stadium readiness, training facilities, accommodation capacity and security planning, particularly when individual nations may struggle to deliver the full slate of venues and logistics alone.The proposal draws on models used elsewhere, with UEFA Euro 2020 staged across multiple countries and the United Kingdom and Ireland set to co-host Euro 2028, while the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was shared across four nations.From an operational standpoint, the southern Africa bid will lean on cross-border coordination across immigration, policing, transport and broadcast logistics, with the “one tournament” requirement placing a premium on consistent standards and a unified commercial and ticketing plan.The bid also lands against an established regional events pipeline, with South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe scheduled to co-host the 2027 Cricket World Cup, giving organisers a recent reference point for multi-country delivery and partner servicing.Southern Africa has hosted AFCON before, with South Africa staging the tournament in 1996 and 2013 and Angola hosting in 2010, while Botswana has never hosted.CAF has no formal public policy to rotate hosting across regions, but the sequencing of recent editions and the east Africa co-host plan for 2027 have increased expectations that southern Africa could be due a turn if infrastructure and commercial delivery can be demonstrated at the required level.The next step will be CAF’s evaluation of the submitted documentation and delivery guarantees, with the four bidders seeking to prove that a shared hosting model can deliver both tournament standards and a stronger commercial footprint across the region.