By
Arinze Umeweni
The football federations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have taken their first formal step toward co-hosting the 2032 Africa Cup of Nations, after CAF accepted their joint declaration of interest.
The Nigerien Football Federation, FENIFOOT, announced that CAF had officially received the submission made by the three countries in line with Article 7.3 of its bidding regulations.
According to FENIFOOT, the acceptance means the Sahel trio has met the initial requirement to enter CAFโs official evaluation process to determine the host nation or nations for the 2032 edition of Africaโs flagship tournament.
CAF kicks off bidding for 2028, 2032 and 2036
Earlier this month, CAF invited all 54 member associations to submit bids for the 2028, 2032 and 2036 AFCON tournaments.
The continental body said it developed a detailed bidding framework with support from PwC and other technical, financial and legal consultants to ensure a transparent, globally recognized selection process.
CAF described AFCON as Africaโs biggest sporting event, with over 3.2 billion TV viewers and 6 billion digital views worldwide.
The body also confirmed that the 2027 TotalEnergies AFCON will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from June 19 to July 17, 2027, further cementing the trend of multi-country hosting.
Motsepe meets Sahel federations in New York
As part of the process, CAF President Patrice Motsepe met with the presidents of the football federations of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger on July 18 in New York.
FENIFOOT said Motsepe acknowledged the three nationsโ shared ambition to host AFCON 2032 and praised the proposal as an example of regional cooperation. He urged them to keep preparing their bid according to CAFโs technical guidelines.
Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a regional bloc formed by the military-led governments of the three countries after their exit from ECOWAS.
If approved, it would be the first time the three neighboring Sahel nations jointly host the tournament. It would also align with CAFโs growing preference for collaborative bids that help share infrastructure costs and broaden the tournamentโs reach.
CAF stressed that accepting the declaration of interest does not guarantee hosting rights. The AES nations will now proceed to the next phase of evaluation for AFCON 2032.
