The host country is not yet known – it should be in the next few months – but the program for the 2027 Games of La Francophonie could be marked by a few changes. At the top of the list is soccer. Zeina Mina, Director of the Comité international des Jeux de la Francophonie (CIJF), and Sory Diabaté, FIFA’s technical delegate for the event, met in Paris at the beginning of the week to take stock of the 2023 edition in Kinshasa, DRC. And they have already sketched out the contours of the 2027 soccer tournament. Among the ideas discussed was the addition of a women’s tournament. The next edition could also be marked by a change in the number of countries, the age category and even the possibility for qualified teams to include a few players over the age of 20. At the Jeux de la Francophonie 2023 in Kinshasa, the tournament was won by Cameroon (photo above), who beat Burkina Faso 2-1 in the final. Sixteen countries were due to take part in the competition, but eight have withdrawn in recent weeks, including France, Canada, Tunisia and Côte d’Ivoire.
