2025 Africa Cup of Nations: CAF announces new date for tournament – Opening match to be played on December 21

The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has announced a new date for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations men’s tournament.

The continental showdown was originally scheduled to be played in June-July in Morocco next year.

However, after an Executive Committee meeting on Friday, June 21, CAF has announced new dates.

In a communique after the meeting, CAF said the 2025 men’s AFCON will now be played from December 2025 to January 2026.

The first match of the tournament will be played on December 21.

“The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Executive Committee (“EXCO”) today announced the dates of Africa’s most popular and competitive football competition, the CAF TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (“AFCON”) which will take place in Morocco.

“The dates of the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 are:

“Opening Match: Sunday 21 December 2025

“Final Match: Sunday 18 January 2026,” an official communique from CAF said.