CAF sets October strategy conference in Cape Verde after record World Cup showing
African football’s next major conversation will move from the pitch to the strategy room in October.
The Confederation of African Football has announced that Cape Verde will host the CAF Strategy Conference from October 7 to 9 in Santa Maria, Sal Island, bringing together presidents of all 54 member associations, national-team coaches, zonal leaders, CAF executives and international football experts.
The timing is deliberate.
CAF says the conference will examine how the continent builds on its record representation at the 2026 World Cup and turns that progress into stronger competitions, better development systems and more sustainable football structures before 2030.
World Cup gains put 2030 on the agenda
CAF has built the meeting around two core pillars.
The first is football development and sustainability across Africa.
The second is an analysis of how Africa’s 10 representatives performed at the 2026 World Cup, with the findings intended to shape preparation for the 2030 tournament.
That gives the conference a wider brief than reviewing one tournament.
It is about what happens next.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has invited the presidents of all 54 member associations, zonal union presidents and members of the CAF Executive Committee to discuss how African football can become more competitive globally while building systems capable of sustaining that progress.
Africa’s football leadership heads to one room
The conference is expected to bring together the coaches of Africa’s 10 World Cup teams, leading coaches from the other 44 CAF member associations and international football specialists.
CAF also says FIFA President Gianni Infantino is expected to attend, while the FIFA Technical Study Group led by Arsène Wenger will be represented.
Women’s and youth football enter the strategy
Women’s and youth football are also built into the programme.
Coaches of African teams qualified for the 2027 Women’s World Cup and coaches of African U-17 World Cup teams are among those expected to participate.
That broadens the conversation from elite senior football to the development pipeline beneath it.
Nine teams through raises the pressure
CAF says all 10 African teams featured at the 2026 World Cup, with nine reaching the Round of 32.
That performance gives the conference its pressure point.
The question is no longer only whether African teams can compete on the biggest stage.
It is whether that progress can be converted into stronger domestic leagues, better coaching systems, deeper youth development and financially healthier football structures across CAF’s 54 associations.
Cape Verde becomes the strategy stage
CAF says Cape Verde was selected after its own 2026 World Cup campaign drew attention and reflected the wider progress African teams have made internationally.
Santa Maria will therefore host more than another football meeting.
It will host a continent-wide review of what worked, what needs to improve and what African football wants to look like by the next World Cup cycle.
The World Cup supplied the evidence.
Cape Verde is where CAF intends to debate the response.
