As expected since the officialization of the Club World Cup for the summer of 2025, the African Football Confederation (CAF) announced, Friday June 21, 2024, the postponement of the 2025 African Cup of Nations. take place in Morocco, but not in the summer of 2025. The continental tournament will be held from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026.
2 mins
Ultimately, there is really nothing surprising in the postponement of the CAN 2025which was to take place during the summer of the northern hemisphere and which will finally take place from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026. The CAN in Morocco will be the third consecutive edition to be postponed for several months, after the CAN 2021 in Cameroon (postponed to January-February 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and CAN 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire (postponed to January-February 2024 due to high rainfall in the summer in the country).
Since CAN 2012, CAF has always been forced to change its initial plans, either by postponing the competition or by changing the organizing country at short notice. The art of the permanent counterbalance.
The summer 2025 calendar is too busy
For CAN 2025, the African Football Confederation had given its agreement in principle for it to be held in July-August 2025, to interfere as little as possible with the first 32-team Club World Cup, scheduled for June 15 to July 13, 2025. in the USA. But the schedule is really too busy that summer. In recent days, several footballers’ unions have protested against unbearable pace.
Thus, faced with the World Cup-CAN 2025 traffic jam, it was decided to postpone the African competition. However, a few weeks ago, faced with the rise of rumors, CAF denied “ announcements regarding a possible postponement “, calling them ” false “.
But the general secretary of CAF, Veron Mosengo-Omba, seemed to be preparing the ground for a postponement by confiding to AFP that “ discussions are well advanced with stakeholders » and that a decision would be announced “ Soon “. The circle is now complete, and the official postponement.
The first CAN to take place over two years
The 35th CAN in history, the second in Morocco after that of 1988, innovates with its calendar. This is the first time that the continental tournament will be held over two years, with the start of the first round on December 21, 2025 and the final on January 18, 2026.
This period is completely new, the CAN usually starting at the beginning of January and ending at the beginning of February. . This novelty would make it possible to avoid an overlap of competitions with the new format of the UEFA Champions League, which comes into force from 2024. In this, the 6th day of the group stage of the C1 will end in mid-December, while the 7th day starts around January 21.
This arrangement should allow players playing in Europe, and competing with their clubs in the UEFA Champions League, to be available.