CAF announces 2025 AFCON tournament in Morocco

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has reached a basic agreement for the 2025 AFCON to take place in Morocco in July and August of that year.

CAF president Patrice Motsepe had been non-committal when pressed on the timing for the next tournament.

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AFCON TO MOVE INTO TRADITIONAL OFF-SEASON WINDOW FROM 2025

The set of circumstances could wind up being a great boon for Afcon, which has been at the heart of rifts between players and their national teams over some clubs reluctance to let players go in January.

With the expected timing being for a 2024 tournament Caf found they had more issues. Scheduling it for June and July in 2024 would conflict with FIFA’s enlarged Club World Cup, which is scheduled to be staged in North America.

AFCON AGREEMENT OVER MOROCCO 2025

There is reportedly “an agreement in principle between CAF and the Moroccan Football Federation for the AFCON to be held during the summer, more precisely in July and August” of 2025, a competitions committee member told AFP this week while speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“This agreement was found with the support of FIFA after talks that began several months ago and which intensified during the last edition which finished this month in Ivory Coast,” the source added.

“The dates currently proposed are July 20-August 16 or 17, 2025.”

PUSHED FROM PILLAR TO POST

The dates of the last two Africa Cup of Nations were both rescheduled. The Cameroonian-hosted 2021 competition took place in January and February of 2022. The most recent event was postponed due to weather concerns, originally slated for June and July of last year.

The first round of Afcon qualifying is scheduled for next month.

Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania will all share hosting duties at the 2027 Cup of Nations.