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The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournament will be held later next year in Morocco and not in the summer as it had initially been planned.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will not be played in the offseason as host nation Morocco had hoped but will instead be staged from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.
Following a meeting by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee on Friday, the tournament was scheduled for late 2025, spilling into early 2026.
It means clubs around the world will have to do without their players who will be representing their countries at the tournament while the Moroccan league, and others from Africa, might be forced to take a break.
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12:30 - 18.06.2024
Relief for Harambee Stars as AFCON 2025 qualifiers likely to be hosted on home soil after all
Nyayo Stadium could be available for use by September, which now means Harambee Stars won't have to host their home matches abroad again, having played Burundi and Ivory Coast in Malawi.
The tournament dates have proved to be a nightmare to CAF owing to various events next summer, necessitating the delay after it was initially set to take place in June 2025.
With the expanded 32-team Club World Cup, which will be held in the United States from June 15-July 13, four African teams will take part which means it would be impossible to host the AFCON at around the same time.
CAF general secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba had already cast doubt over the summer dates early this month before the continental football governing body ‘clarified’ that there will not be a six-month delay.
"We can play after the Club World Cup, but is this good for the interests of the players who have played all the season and then they travel to America to play (and then) immediately come to play AFCON?," Mosengo-Omba told the BBC, adding, "Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody.”
While announcing the new dates on Friday, CAF president Patrice Motsepe said: “I am confident that the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 will be extremely successful and will be the best AFCON in the history of this competition.”
The changes are a blow to Morocco’s tourist industry and its desire to prove its ability to stage a major tournament ahead of the 2030 World Cup which the country will co-host with Portugal and Spain.
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