The Confederation of African Football has announced the African Nations Cup will continue to be staged every two years, and will not expand the number of participants in the foreseeable future.
"It is always a contentious date from a European perspective, but not from the perspective of Africa," CAF general secretary Hicham El Amrani said on Friday.
"It has been the most successful way to develop and organise African football ... It's critical to keep it every two years if we are further develop infrastructure. The Nations Cup brings not only new stadiums but also upgrades in terms of airports, road and hotels."
The staging of the tournament has come in for criticism by leading European clubs who lose their top African players every two years.
And while the confederation refuses to budge on the schedule, they are also opposed to the idea of following the World Cup's example and expanding from its 16-team format.
"Sixteen teams is a great format for us. We see it as a fair and consistent sporting approach. If we expanded it, only a few African countries would have the capacity to ever be able to host it, and that is not what we want," El Amrani said.
"We don't want to exclude anybody from hosting the tournament."