By Michael Madyira
Bafana Bafana will have to play the Africa Cup of Nations Cup over the festive period if they qualify for the 2025 edition.
Caf has announced that the next Afcon tournament will run from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026 in Morocco.
It will be the first time that the competition will be played over the Christmas period and it took longer than usual for Caf to come up with the dates.
“I am confident that the Caf TotalEnergies Afcon Morocco 2025 will be extremely successful and will be the best Afcon in the history of this competition,” said Caf president Patrice Motsepe when revealing the scheduling of the next finals.
“The announcement of the dates of the Caf TotalEnergies Afcon 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.”
However, the Afcon dates could clash with the busy Christmas schedule of the Premier League and other European competitions.
Over the years, the club versus country conflict has been on the rise with some overseas clubs not keen to release their players for Africa’s flagship tournament.
“Caf is committed to protecting and advancing the interests of African players, playing in football clubs in Europe and worldwide,” said Motsepe.
“Caf is also committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with the ECA, Uefa, other Football Confederations and Fifa.
“We will continue to make significant progress in developing and ensuring that African Football is globally competitive and amongst the best in the world.”
The draw for the 2025 Afcon qualifiers is expected to be conducted on 4 July in Johannesburg.
That is when Bafana will know their opponents in their bid to return to the continental competition and the qualifiers kick off in September.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has been scheduled for 5 to 26 July 2025 in Morocco.
The tournament was initially scheduled for this year but Caf faced a logistical nightmare in planning the dates.
Pictured above: Bafana Bafana players celebrating
Image source: Bafana Bafana
