The confederations of African football Federation has
confirmed dates for the 2025 Total Energies African Cup of Nations (AFCON) to
be played in Morocco. This was during an executive committee (EXCO) meeting
yesterday.
The dates of the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 are:
Opening Match: Sunday 21 December 2025
Final Match: Sunday 18 January 2026
The CAF EXCO also announced the dates of the CAF
TotalEnergies Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (“WAFCON”) which will also be
hosted in Morocco.
The dates of the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024 are:
Opening Match: Saturday 5 July 2025
Final Match: Saturday 26 July 2025
The President of CAF Dr Patrice Motsepe said: “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.”
“I am also impressed by the enormous growth of Women’s
Football in Africa and I am expecting the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024
to be immensely successful.”
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.
CAF noted that they are committed to protecting and
advancing the interests of African players, playing in football clubs in Europe
and worldwide and also committed to building mutually beneficial relationships
with the ECA, UEFA, other Football Confederations and FIFA
Motsepe said, “We will continue to make significant progress
in developing and ensuring that African Football is globally competitive and
amongst the best in the World. CAF is grateful to King Mohamed VI of Morocco,
the Federation Royale Marocaine de Football (“FRMF”), its President Fouzi
Lekjaa, the Government and people of Morocco for hosting the CAF TotalEnergies
AFCON Morocco 2025 and the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024.”
The federation of Moroccan football president Mr. Fouzi
Lekjaa said: “We hope that the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 will be the
best event to honor Africa and Morocco will make available the best conditions
to host the rest of Africa and the World.”
GROUP STAGE DRAW DATES CONFIRMED.
The draw will be conducted at SuperSport studios in South
Africa at 14h30 local time (15h30 Cairo time, 12h30 GMT).
48 Nations, including the four winners from the preliminary
round (Chad, Eswatini, Liberia and South Sudan) will be drawn into 12 Groups of
four teams each to battle it out for places at the finals.
Headlining the confirmed Nations for the draw are reigning
African champions Cote d’Ivoire joined by Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana,
Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo,
DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Ethiopia.
Others include Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau,
Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco,
Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia,
Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The qualifiers are scheduled to kick-off in September 2024
to determine the first 24 nations that will compete for Africa’s biggest event,
the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in 2025.