December 19 – The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco will be staged from December 21 to January 18, 2026, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed.
The confederation’s executive committee rubber-stamped the decision to move the flagship tournament to winter because of the expanded 32-team Club World Cup that will be staged next summer in the United States.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) was supposed to be played in mid-year to alleviate the club-vs-country choice for players, but the switch will once again see partial calendar overlap with the European club season. The January finish however will leave the expanded UEFA Champions League largely untouched.
“The announcement of the dates of the AFCON in Morocco 2025 took much longer than expected, as there were complex and at times challenging discussions with various interested parties, in the light of the extensive international and domestic match calendars,” said CAF president Patrice Motsepe previously.
The recent Africa Cup of Nations tournaments in Ivory Coast and Cameroon were both staged at the start of the year.
The 2023 finals were deemed a commercial success and Morocco will seek to build on that success to showcase their hosting credentials as the country begins the long build-up to the 2030 World Cup which will be co-hosted with Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Morocco will become the second African country to welcome the quadriennial high mass of the game after South Africa in 2010.
In 2026, the North African country will also host the Women’s Cup of Nations finals.
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