Africa Cup of Nations postponed till early 2026 by six months

The Confederation of African Football said on Wednesday that the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations finals would be rescheduled to begin in 2026, six months later than planned.

The 32-team Club World Cup, which will take place in the United States from June 15–July 13, will conflict with the 2025 finals in Morocco, which were scheduled to take place in June of next year.

At the Club World Cup, Africa will field four teams, and many of those players will probably be chosen for the Cup of Nations.

Before general secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba informed the BBC that the Nations Cup finals would take place in early 2026, CAF was questioned about the apparent conflict on several occasions but was unable to provide a resolution.

This will be devastating for Morocco, which was expecting to use a summer competition to showcase its growing tourism sector and demonstrate its capacity to organize a major event in advance of its co-hosting of the 2030 World Cup with Portugal and Spain.

“We can play after the Club World Cup but is this good for the interests of the players who have played all the season and then they travel to America to play (and then) immediately come to play Afcon?” stated Mosengo-Omba.

“Everyone finds scheduling to be a nightmare,” he said to the BBC.

The incapacity of CAF to set dates for the women’s Africa Cup of Nations finals, which will take place in Morocco this year, has also drawn criticism.

There is also doubt over the second season of the African Football League, the continent’s new super league introduced last year.

In a knockout competition compressed into two months, eight chosen clubs competed for prize money that broke records.

While CAF President Patrice Motsepe had stated that the next edition would comprise 24 teams, the organization said on Tuesday that the African Football League’s and Confederation Cup’s group rounds would take place from October to December of the next year.