The Confederation of African Football will bring together presidents of all 54 member associations, senior men’s, women’s and youth national-team coaches and international technical experts in Cape Verde from 7 to 9 October for a strategy conference focused on the next phase of African football development.
CAF says the conference, to be held in Santa Maria on Sal Island, will centre on two broad priorities: strengthening the development and sustainability of football across the continent, and analysing the performance of Africa’s record 10 representatives at the 2026 FIFA World Cup as preparations begin for the 2030 tournament cycle.
The gathering comes at a moment when African national teams have more evidence than ever that they can compete deep into major international tournaments. CAF says nine of the continent’s 10 representatives at the 2026 World Cup progressed to the knockout stage. The challenge now is to determine how much of that progress can be converted into durable improvements in coaching, player development, competitions and football administration.
A conference built around performance and sustainability
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has invited the presidents of every member association, zonal union leaders and members of the CAF Executive Committee. The conference will also include coaches from Africa’s 2026 World Cup teams, coaches from the continent’s other national associations and international technical specialists.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino is expected to attend, while FIFA’s Technical Study Group, led by Arsène Wenger, is among the international participants identified by CAF.
The structure suggests that CAF wants the discussion to move beyond a celebration of results. World Cup performance can reveal where African teams have improved, but it can also expose gaps in player pathways, game management, sports science, technical preparation and the depth of domestic competitions. Bringing national-team coaches into the same room as association presidents gives CAF an opportunity to connect technical lessons with the institutional decisions required to implement them.
The question is what happens between tournaments
African football has long produced elite players who succeed in the world’s strongest leagues, but national-team success has not always translated into equally strong football systems at home. The development question therefore extends beyond individual talent.
National associations need sustainable competitions, qualified coaches, reliable youth structures, better sports medicine, stronger women’s leagues, improved commercial revenues and facilities capable of supporting development throughout the year. Those systems determine whether international success becomes repeatable rather than dependent on one generation of players.
CAF has increasingly framed sustainability as part of its football-development agenda. The governing body has invested in competitions, club licensing, coaching and youth programmes, while also pushing member associations to strengthen governance and commercial operations. The October conference provides a venue to examine how those initiatives can be linked more directly to performance outcomes.
Women’s and youth football are part of the same conversation
CAF has deliberately widened participation beyond senior men’s national teams. Coaches of African women’s national teams that have qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 are expected to participate, alongside coaches of African U-17 teams involved in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
That matters because development pathways cannot be treated as separate programmes. A sustainable national football system needs progression from youth football into senior competition, while women’s football requires its own investment in coaching, leagues, facilities and commercial growth.
Africa’s women’s game has also become more competitive internationally. Morocco, Cameroon, Algeria and Malawi have already qualified directly for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, while Ghana and South Africa remain in the play-off pathway. The broader spread of competitive teams gives CAF another reason to connect lessons across different levels of the game.
Cape Verde as host carries its own symbolism
CAF selected Cape Verde after the country’s 2026 World Cup campaign drew attention to the progress smaller African football nations can make with effective organisation and development. Hosting the strategy conference there reinforces one of the central questions facing the continent: how can success be broadened beyond a small group of historically dominant football nations?
For smaller associations, the economics are particularly demanding. Limited domestic commercial markets, travel costs, infrastructure gaps and player-release challenges can constrain development. Regional cooperation and targeted CAF support therefore remain important alongside national investment.
From lessons to measurable actions
The value of the October meeting will ultimately depend on what follows it. Strategy conferences can generate ambitious declarations, but African football’s recurring challenge is implementation across 54 associations with very different resources, institutional capacities and competitive environments.
Practical outcomes could include clearer coaching-development priorities, stronger technical benchmarks, improved support for youth and women’s football, competition reforms and more structured knowledge-sharing between national associations. CAF has not yet announced specific decisions to be adopted, so those outcomes should not be assumed in advance.
What is already clear is that African football enters the discussion from a stronger competitive position than in previous cycles. A record number of teams reached the 2026 World Cup, and CAF says nine advanced from the group stage. The next test is whether that momentum can become institutional rather than episodic.
For CAF, the strategic question is therefore larger than preparing for another World Cup. It is whether recent results can be used to strengthen the systems that produce players, coaches, competitions and football institutions across the continent. The Cape Verde conference is intended to begin that conversation at the highest administrative and technical levels of the African game.
Sources
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