CAF Announces New Dates For 2025 AFCON In Morocco

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be held in Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026. Initially, the AFCON was scheduled for June and July 2025, but it was pushed back to avoid a clash with the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup in the United States from June 15 to July 13 next year. Additionally, CAF aimed to avoid conflicting with the UEFA Champions League in Europe.

The qualifying draw for the 2025 AFCON is scheduled for July 4 in Johannesburg, with 48 hopefuls divided into 12 groups. Morocco will participate in the qualifiers to gain competitive match practice, but they have already secured a spot at the 24-team finals as the host nation.

The 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) has also been postponed and will now take place in Morocco from July 5 to 26 next year. New dates for the African Nations Championship (CHAN), originally scheduled for Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda this year, will be announced soon.

The decision to move the AFCON dates was made after a meeting between CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe and FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Rabat, Morocco, on June 15.

Dr. Motsepe said the decision was made to ensure the success of the tournament and to avoid conflicting with other international competitions.

“The AFCON is a premier African football competition, and we want to ensure it is a success. We also want to avoid conflicting with other international competitions, especially the FIFA Club World Cup,” Dr. Motsepe said.

The move is also expected to allow African players playing in Europe to participate in the tournament without conflicting with their club commitments.

Morocco was awarded the hosting rights for the 2025 AFCON in January, beating bids from Algeria and Tunisia.

The North African country has hosted the tournament twice before, in 1988 and 2015.

The 2025 AFCON will be the 35th edition of the tournament, which was first held in 1957.