CAF doesn't know when 2025 Africa Cup will be played amid schedule congestion
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — African soccer leaders don’t know when the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco will take place because of congestion in the calendar.
The 35th edition of the biennial tournament is due to be held in mid-year but there are issues with scheduling because of FIFA’s revamped 32-team Club World Cup in the United States from June 15-July 13, 2025.
Africa has four entries in the FIFA club event, and already qualified are the past two continental champions Al Ahly of Egypt and Wydad Casablanca from 2025 AFCON host Morocco. The other two places will be confirmed after the next African Champions League final in May.
“There are dates," Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe said on Friday of the 2025 Africa Cup, though it was unclear where those are in the FIFA-managed global calendar of national team games. The current document has no entry yet in 2025 for the African championship.
“I was with the president of FIFA yesterday and various others,” Motsepe added. "There’s a lot of competing events at the same time, but we are confident that we will identify (that) it is indeed going to be around that time.
“I don’t want to make announcements because there’s a degree of comfort in terms of what the date looks like, but we’ve got to accommodate various other competing competitions.”
The ongoing Africa Cup was pushed back from mid-year last year to avoid host nation Ivory Coast’s rainy season, but that angered European clubs that have to do without African players called up to the tournament.
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah suffered a hamstring injury while on duty for Egypt, and the likes of Bayer Leverkusen contributed four players. Napoli forward Victor Osimhen hopes to lead Nigeria to the title in Sunday’s final.
Motsepe said it had been a success with almost two billion people globally watching since the tournament began on Jan. 13. "The next one will be even better,” he said.
But the South African billionaire would not be drawn on possible dates in 2025.
“The AFCON in Morocco is going to be excellent, it’s going to be immensely successful,” Motsepe said.
Morocco will be confirmed this year by FIFA as a co-host of the men's World Cup in 2030, with Spain and Portugal, plus three South American neighbors — Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — getting just one game each in the 104-game schedule.
The 2025 Africa Cup shapes to be Morocco's main test of its stadiums and organizing ability before the biggest event in soccer arrives five years later.
“I’ll talk more about it after Côte d’Ivoire," Motsepe said. "The focus for all of us now is Côte d’Ivoire.”
South Africa plays Congo for the third-place playoff on Saturday. Ivory Coast hosts Nigeria in the final on Sunday.
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