Four Southern African Nations Join Forces to Host Historic AFCON 2028

South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe have officially submitted a joint bid to host the 2028 Africa Cup of Nations. If selected, the tournament would become the first edition of AFCON to be staged across four countries at the same time, marking a major step for football in southern Africa.

The bid was confirmed by Tariq Babitseng, president of the Botswana Football Association, who expressed confidence in the region's ability to organize a successful tournament. He highlighted the strength of the transportation systems and sporting infrastructure already available across the four nations.

Although the Confederation of African Football has not introduced an official regional rotation policy, recent editions of the tournament have been spread across different parts of the continent. Central, western, northern, and eastern Africa have all hosted recent or upcoming editions, leading many observers to believe southern Africa could now receive its turn.

The proposed partnership also builds on growing cooperation between the four countries in hosting international sporting events. South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe are already scheduled to co-host the 2027 Cricket World Cup, which could strengthen confidence in the region's organizational capabilities for another major tournament.

While a four-country hosting arrangement would be unusual for AFCON, similar models have already been used successfully in other international competitions. UEFA Euro 2020 was played across multiple nations in Europe, while the 2007 AFC Asian Cup was jointly hosted by Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In southern Africa, only South Africa and Angola have previously hosted the Africa Cup of Nations.