The Confederation of African Football, CAF, President, Patrice Motsepe on Friday announced that next edition of the African Cup of Nations, AFON, would be hosted by Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.
This was contained in a statement released by the African football governing body.
Motsepe said, “I am confident that the CAF AFCON Morocco 2025 will be extremely successful. And will be the best AFCON in the history of this competition.”
The announcement came on the heels of the CAF Executive Committee virtual meeting at their headquarters in Cairo on Friday evening.
Recall that the competition was originally scheduled for June and July 2025. However, the AFCON was moved to avoid a clash with the inaugural Club World Cup introduced by FIFA. The competition is scheduled to hold in the United States from June 15 to July 13 next year.
According to reports, one of the challenges in fixing dates for the AFCON by CAF was the desire to avoid a clash of dates with the UEFA Champions League in Europe.
It states that matchday six of the elite European club competition ends on December 11 2025. While matchday seven begins on January 21 2026.
“The new dates, the report stated, are sure to upset many Premier League clubs. This is as the Christmas-New Year period is frenetic with teams playing many matches in a short period.
English media reports have suggested clubs might not release African stars. This is as they are compelled to do so for only one international championship per year. And the next World Cup is in 2026.
It maintained that CAF could argue that it is the 2025 AFCON, although most of the tournament will be staged the following year.
That, therefore, stated that finding suitable dates for the AFCON has become increasingly difficult. The 24-Nation tournament was won last by host Ivory Coast, last February.
“A switch to mid year worked for the 2019 edition in the searing heat of Egypt. This is in so far as it avoided a clash with the European club seasons.
“However, the two subsequent editions, in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast, had to be staged in January and February. This was done to avoid the rainy seasons in Central and West Africa.
The qualifying draw for the 2025 AFCON is scheduled for Johannesburg on July 4. It has 48 hopefuls that will be divided into 12 groups.
The report stated that Morocco will take part in the qualifying just to gain competitive match practice. The country will, however, be guaranteed a place at the 24-team finals as hosts.
Unlike the four-yearly European Championship, Copa America and Asian Cup, the AFCON is held every two years. This is because it delivers most of the CAF revenue.
According to a recent TV interview, Motsepe said CAF made an $80 million (€75 million) profit from the last AFCON.
“This was a dramatic increase from previous editions, which produced an average profit of about Four Million Dollars,” according to the South African billionaire.
According to the statement, the 2024 Women’s AFCON (WAFCON) has also been postponed. The tournament will now be played in Morocco from July 5-26 next year.
“New dates will also have to be found for the African Nations Championship (CHAN). This was originally scheduled for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda this year.
As at the time of the announcement, no qualifying draw has been made for a competition. The competition, which is restricted to home-based footballers was won by Senegal in Algeria last year.
CAF have not explained the delay in the qualifying draw.
“There has also been no news from CAF on a second edition of the African Football League (AFL). This was initially called the African Super League, ASL.
It was planned to be a 24-Club mini-league and knockout competition featuring the highest ranked clubs in the continent. The competition debuted last year with just eight sides involved in a three-round affair.
Following the original format, clubs would play between 14 and 21 matches.
source: AFP
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