Africa Cup of Nations 2025 postponed to winter due to Club World Cup

The next Africa Cup of Nations finals have been postponed by six months and will now be held from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Friday.

The 2025 tournament in Morocco was supposed to take place in the middle of the year, but has been postponed because the new, expanded Club World Cup with 32 teams will take place in the USA next June and July.

CAF has also postponed the finals of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations for Women by twelve months to July 5-26 next year. It will also be held in Morocco.

The dates for the two tournaments were eagerly awaited, as CAF had previously admitted that it was struggling with a crowded international calendar.

“The announcement of the dates for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco has taken much longer than expected due to complex and sometimes challenging discussions with various interested parties, given the extensive international and national match calendars,” said CAF President Patrice Motsepe.

“CAF is committed to protecting and promoting the interests of African players playing in football clubs in Europe and around the world. CAF is also committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with the other football associations and FIFA,” he added.

Participating in the Africa Cup of Nations in the middle of the European league season presents a dilemma for African players living in Europe: they have to choose between their club and their country.

To counteract this problem, CAF had previously decided to move the finals to the middle of the year every odd year starting in 2019. However, since the mid-year tournament in Egypt in 2019, the African Football Confederation has backed away from its decision and held the last two finals in Cameroon and Ivory Coast earlier this year.

The postponement of the kick-off of the 2025 finals to December instead of January is intended to avoid a collision with the expanded Champions League in Europe.

The 2025 finals were supposed to be a stage for Morocco to boost tourism in the summer and demonstrate its capacity to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Portugal and Spain. However, the finals have now been postponed to the winter months.

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers will be played in a fast-track format over the next three international periods in September, October and November this year. After that, the 24 finalists will have to wait more than a year for the final tournament to begin.