A historic first. Organized in Morocco from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026, the African Cup of Nations will be held over two years, unheard of for this competition created in 1957. Usually contested between the months of January and February, with the exception of a few editions in summer, the CAN 2025 will start one month ahead of its usual schedule this winter.
The fault is the multiple changes decided by the CAF (Confederation of African Football), partly caused by the vagaries of the international calendar. While it was originally scheduled to take place in the summer of 2025, the continent’s premier competition was forced to adapt to the reform of the Club World Cup, organized by Fifa. The basic plan was to schedule the CAN in July/August, a few weeks after the end of the World Cup finally won by Chelsea.
But the complaints of several footballers’ unions, panicked by the possibility of seeing certain players play two tournaments after an already grueling season without benefiting from sufficient rest time, forced the African football authorities to revise their copy.
Like the last two editions, the CAN in Morocco has therefore changed dates. This was already the case in Cameroon, with a delay from June 2021 to January 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic but also in Côte d’Ivoire, when the heavy rainfall expected in the summer of 2023 pushed the organizers to move the competition to the start of 2024.
Champions League matches in January
But then, why won’t the tournament bringing together the best nations in Africa be played between January and February 2025, as tradition dictates? The answer is once again to be found in the ever-busier world football calendar. Since 2024 and the reform of the Champions League, UEFA has scheduled two days of the league phase in January.
This season, matches are scheduled for January 20, 21 and 28. To prevent too many players from missing these crucial meetings for European clubs, the authorities have chosen to bring forward the start of the CAN. An arrangement which will allow all African players mobilized by the competition to be back in time to conclude the regular phase of the Champions League.
Consequence: the group stage will take place right during the holiday period. If no matches will be played on Thursday, December 25, the schedule will be busy every other day, including December 24 and 31, with four matches on the program each time.
