The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has given its agreement in principle for the next African Football Cup of Nations (CAN) to be held in July-August 2025 in Morocco, AFP was told on Monday February 19. a manager of the sports body based in Cairo.
At the beginning of February, the president of the CAF, Patrice Motsepe, refused to give a date for the CAN, postponed after having initially been scheduled for January-February 2025. Its holding in summer will take place while the International Football Federation (FIFA) organizes its first major 32-team Club World Cup from June 15 to July 13 in the United States.
On Monday, an official of the committee responsible for competitions told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that there was “an agreement in principle between CAF and the Moroccan Football Federation for the CAN to be held during summer, more precisely in July and August” 2025. “This agreement was reached under the aegis of FIFA after talks that began several months ago and which intensified during the last edition concluded this month – here in Ivory Coast, he continued. The current proposed dates are July 20 to August 16 or 17, 2025.”
The two previous CANs have already been postponed. CAN 2021 was played in January-February 2022 in Cameroon, and the last one began on January 13 in Ivory Coast, before being won by the host country a week ago.
Furthermore, qualifying for CAN 2025 has still not started. A preliminary round is scheduled for March 18-26, according to the CAF calendar. CAN 2027 must be organized in three countries: Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
