The Confederation of African Football say that co-hosting might be the only way for more countries to host future African Nations Cup finals.
Issa Hayatou, the organisation's president, has declared the 2012 finals in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon an unqualified success and says more countries are welcome to put together co-bids for the future.
It is the second time that the Nations Cup has been co-hosted by two different countries.
"We co-hosted the finals in 2000 in Ghana and Nigeria but only because Zimbabwe pulled out of the hosting of the tournament at the last moment and the two countries stepped in as a quick solution," explained Hayatou.
"But this is the first time we had two countries co-bidding to host the finals and putting together the tournament together. It proved a great success. We think both have done a wonderful job."
While the levels of organisational efficiency differed between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, both oil-rich countries spent liberally on the event, with a bill in excess of some U.S. $20-million each for the organisation of the event alone, excluding the stadiums built for the finals.
The two governments co-operated in several fields, notably to allow easy access by issuing a joint visa to visitors for the duration of the three-week tournament.
FIFA allowed Japan and South Korea to co-host the 2002 World Cup but the operation was beset by political rivalry and FIFA have made it clear they do not want their showpiece tournament ever to have dual hosts again. CAF, however, are of a different opinion.
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"There are so many countries in Africa who would not have the opportunity to host the Nations Cup on their own because of the expense and because of the limits of their own infrastructure," said the CAF president. "But if they got together, they would stand a much better chance to host the finals."
Hayatou has long held the belief that taking the finals to less developed countries helps force the building of sporting infrastructure, notably new stadiums.
But CAF did not have any bidders in its last contest besides Morocco and South Africa. Morocco were therefore awarded the right to host the 2015 finals and South Africa 2017. South Africa have since swapped with Libya, who were originally down to host in 2013.
South Africa are therefore the next hosts in 2013, Morocco two years after that and Libya in 2017. CAF has changed its flagship tournament from even to odd years.
