The Africa Cup of Nations will be contested by 24 teams when the next tournament takes place in 2019, in Cameroon.
According to BBC Sport, the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee rubber-stamped the proposal on Thursday at a meeting in the Moroccan capital Rabat.
Africa’s flagship sporting event has featured 16 teams since 1996, will now feature an expanded slot system to accommodate 24 teams.
A decision on whether the finals will be moved from January and February to June and July is reported to have yet to be concluded.
This news comes in lieu of Cameroon’s problem as regards preparations for the tournament next year and could add more problems to their seeming busy schedule.
The move follows a two-day symposium organised by CAF president Ahmad to discuss the state of African football.
Further changes are expected but have yet to be announced.
The 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Total Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon 2017(also referred to as AFCON 2017 or CAN 2017), was the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men’s football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The tournament was scheduled to be hosted by Libya, until CAF rescinded its hosting rights in August 2014 due to ongoing war in the country
The tournament was instead hosted by Gabon. This event was also part of the Africa Cup of Nations 60th Anniversary.
Cameroon won their fifth title after defeating seven-time champions Egypt 2–1 in the final. Burkina Faso finished third after beating Ghana 1–0 in the third-place play-off.
As champions, Cameroon qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. Tournament hosts Gabon and defending champions Ivory Coast were both eliminated in the group stage after failing to win any of their three group games.