CAF Announces New Dates Adjustment For Upcoming AFCON

The next Africa Cup of Nations will be played in Ivory Coast in 2024, and not 2023, Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe said on Sunday.

 The tournament was scheduled to take place in June–July 2023, which is the raining months of the year in Ivory Coast.

In Rabat, the Moroccan capital, the South African remarked, "We cannot take the chance."

The finals will be delayed rather than moved up since the World Cup in Qatar will take place in November and December of this year.

After this year's competition in Cameroon, it means that the Nations Cup will be contested in January and February for the second consecutive year.

In an effort to avoid further conflicts with European clubs obliged to release players in the middle of the season, Caf stated in 2017 that it would relocate the finals from their customary January-February timeframe to June-July.

The European clubs make January a less than ideal time, but it's the only option available, said Motsepe.

The controlling body of African football, which was led by the ousted former Caf president Issa Hayatou in 2017, refused to accept any potential alteration in the months in which the continent's premier sporting event is held.

Hayatou's successor, Ahmad of Madagascar, reversed this strategy just four months after taking office after consulting with the authorities on the continent.

Given the diverse weather patterns experienced across the continent at various times of the year, Caf Secretary-General Veron Mosengo-Omba stated that there are no intentions to relocate the finals back to January or February permanently.

Given that June and July have long been the rainy months in Ivory Coast, why did Caf take so long to decide on this issue? Motsepe avoided answering the question directly, stating that the decision had been made "out of courtesy" with Ivorian organizers.