December 19 – The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco shall be staged from December 21 to January 18, 2026, the Confederation of African Soccer (CAF) confirmed.
The confederation’s government committee rubber-stamped the choice to maneuver the flagship match to winter due to the expanded 32-team Membership World Cup that can be staged subsequent summer season in the US.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) was alleged to be performed in mid-year to alleviate the club-vs-country alternative for gamers, however the change will as soon as once more see partial calendar overlap with the European membership season. The January end nevertheless will depart the expanded UEFA Champions League largely untouched.
“The announcement of the dates of the AFCON in Morocco 2025 took for much longer than anticipated, as there have been advanced and at occasions difficult discussions with varied events, within the gentle of the intensive worldwide and home match calendars,” mentioned CAF president Patrice Motsepe beforehand.
The current Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in Ivory Coast and Cameroon have been each staged in the beginning of the yr.
The 2023 finals have been deemed a industrial success and Morocco will search to construct on that success to showcase their internet hosting credentials because the nation begins the lengthy build-up to the 2030 World Cup which shall be co-hosted with Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Morocco will grow to be the second African nation to welcome the quadriennial excessive mass of the sport after South Africa in 2010.
In 2026, the North African nation may even host the Girls’s Cup of Nations finals.
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