AFCON: CAF Announces New Dates For Morocco 2025, Gives Reason

AFCON: CAF Announces New Dates For Morocco 2025, Gives Reason

  • The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco will hold from December 21, 2025, to January 18 2026
  • The Confederation of African Football (CAF), Patrice Motsepe, made the announcement on Friday, June 21 in Cairo, Egypt
  • The decision was made to avoid a clash with the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States American

Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over 5 years of experience covering metro and government policy

FCT, Abuja - The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will be played in Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18 2026.

CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, disclosed this after the CAF virtual executive committee at their headquarters in Cairo, Egypt on Friday, June 21.

CAF announce new dates for 2025 AFCON in Morocco
The decision was taken to avoid a clash with the inaugural Club World Cup in the USA Photo credit: PHILL MAGAKOE/AFP
Source: Getty Images

The AFCON 2025 in Morocco was originally scheduled to hold from June and July 2025, The Punch reports.

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It was, however, moved to avoid a clash with the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States from June 15 to July 13 next year.

Motsepe said:

“I am confident that the CAF AFCON Morocco 2025 will be extremely successful and the best AFCON in the history of this competition.”

According to the Guardian, another challenge was the desire to avoid a clash of dates with the UEFA Champions League in Europe.

Match day six of the elite European club competition ends on December 11 2025 and match day seven begins on January 21 2026.

The 2025 AFCON qualifying draw is scheduled for Johannesburg on July 4 with 48 hopefuls to be divided into 12 groups.

Morocco will take part to gain competitive match practice but are guaranteed a place at the 24-team finals as hosts.

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CAF denies postponement of AFCON 2025

Legit.ng earlier reported that CAF's head of communications, Luxolo September, said there is no final decision on the deferment of AFCON 2025.

The AFCON in Morocco was scheduled for June 2025 but that will clash with the club World Cup set for June 15 to July 13 in the United States

Legit.ng reports that September put out a rebuttal hours after his colleague, Veron Mosengo-Omba, claimed that AFCON 2025 would most likely be moved to 2026

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Adekunle Dada avatar

Adekunle Dada (Politics and Current Affairs Editor) Adekunle Dada is a trained journalist with over 7 years of working experience. He is also a Politics/Current Affairs Editor at Legit.ng. He holds a B.Sc. in Mass Communication From Lagos State University, Ojo. Adekunle previously worked at PM News, The Sun, and Within Nigeria where he expressed his journalistic skills with well-researched articles and features. In 2024, Adekunle obtained a certificate in advanced digital reporting from the Google News Initiative. He can be reached via adekunle.dada@corp.legit.ng.

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