AFCON
AFCON 2025 Postponed Over Schedule Clash With Club World Cup
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which was planned for Morocco, has been rescheduled to January 2026.
Sportxparte understands that the African football tournament is now being pushed back by six months because it conflicts with the larger 32-team Club World Cup.
Originally, AFCON 2025 was planned for June, but the Club World Cup, which is expanding to include 32 teams, is now scheduled to occur in the United States from June 15 to July 13.
Veron Mosengo-Omba, the general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), mentioned to the BBC that the AFCON will now be held in early 2026, recognizing the need to resolve scheduling conflicts.
Mosengo-Omba expressed worries about the well-being of players, wondering if it was possible for them to play in both the Club World Cup and the AFCON back-to-back.
“For the men, we need to make sure that the dates that we’ll be choosing will be in the interests of the players.
“For this, we need to balance different aspects and also discuss with our partners and then we complete [the dates]. Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody,” Mosengo-Omba said.
It could be recalled that FIFA and CAF reached an agreement in principle in February 2024 for the next AFCON tournament to take place in Morocco during the summer months, from mid-July to mid-August.
As preparations for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 kick-off, the preliminary draw was subsequently scheduled for Tuesday, 20 February 2024, in Cairo, Egypt.