After much anticipation, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Executive Committee (EXCO) confirmed on Friday the dates for the African Cup of Nations for men and women.
The two big competitions have been postponed and will now be contested in Morocco next year.
The opening match of the 2025 AFCON will be held on Sunday, December 21, 2025, with the final on Sunday, January 18, 2026.
The AFCON has been rescheduled for December to avoid clashes with the expanded FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, which will take place from June 15 to July 13.
Meanwhile, the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), which was slated to take place this year in July, has been rescheduled for next year to avoid conflicting with the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The competition will start on July 5th, 2025 and end on Saturday, July 26th, 2025.
CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe stated that the announcement of the dates took longer due to difficult conversations with stakeholders.
“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.
“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. I am also impressed by the enormous growth of Women’s Football in Africa and I am expecting the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024 to be immensely successful.”
