President of Africa’s football governing body, CAF, Patrice Motsepe, has detailed extensive reasons behind the rescheduling of the 2025 AFCON and 2024 Women’s AFCON.
Next year’s AFCON was set to run from June to July in Morocco but has been pushed to December with the tournament expected to run from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026.
The Women’s AFCON was due to commence next month but the competition will take place from July 5 to July 26, 2025 instead.
The changes came after CAF’s Executive Council decided to move the competitions based on the fallout from the expanded FIFA World Club Cup that takes place in the US from June 15 to July 13, 2025.
Speaking via CAF media, Dr. Motsepe highlighted protecting African players’ interest as a major reason behind the decision stating,
“The announcement of the dates of the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 took much longer than expected, as there were complex and at times challenging discussions with various interested parties, in the light of the extensive International and Domestic Match Calendars.”
“CAF is committed to protecting and advancing the interests of African players, playing in football clubs in Europe and worldwide.”
“CAF is also committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with the ECA, UEFA, other Football Confederations and FIFA.”
