The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has tentatively agreed for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco to be held from July to August 2025, according to official sources in Cairo speaking to AFP news agency on Monday.
Earlier in February, CAF President Patrice Motsepe refrained from confirming an official date for the AFCON, originally scheduled for January to February 2025.
The 2025 AFCON is poised to coincide with FIFA’s inaugural 32-team Club World Cup, set to run from June 15 to July 13 in the United States.
An official from the competitions committee informed AFP on Monday that there’s “a provisional agreement between CAF and the Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) for the CAN to be staged during the summer, specifically in July and August 2025.
“This understanding was reached under FIFA’s guidance after a series of discussions that intensified during the last edition held in Cote d’Ivoire,” they added. The official concluded by indicating that the proposed dates currently under consideration are from around July 20 to August 17, 2025.
CAF postponed the two previous AFCON tournaments due to adverse weather conditions.
CAN 2021 took place in January through February of 2022 in Cameroon, with Senegal emerging as champions, while the most recent African Cup commenced on January 13, 2024, in Cote d’Ivoire, where the hosts claimed victory.
Qualifications for CAN 2025 have yet to commence, but a preliminary round is slated from March 18 to 26, according to the CAF calendar.
CAF announced that the draw for the preliminary round of qualifiers for the next edition, officially named “CAN TotalEnergies Maroc 2025,” will be held on Tuesday in Cairo.
This preliminary round will involve the eight lowest-ranked teams according to FIFA rankings, namely Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia, and Eswatini.
Matches will be played home and away during the FIFA window from March 18 to 26, 2024, CAF added, noting that the four winners of the preliminary round will join the 44 exempt teams for the group stage of the qualifiers.
CAN 2027 is slated to be co-hosted in the African countries of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.