The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Sunday that it is postponing the Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled to take place in Côte d’Ivoire between June and July 2023, until early 2024.
South African CAF president Patrice Motsepe announced during a press conference following the confederation’s executive office meeting in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, that the African Nations Championship “will take place between January and February 2024”.
He attributed this to the rainy season in Côte d’Ivoire during the summer months.
For decades, the tournament was held earlier in the year to avoid heavy rains in many sub-Saharan African countries, before the African Union decided to move its date to summer in line with the international agenda.
After Egypt hosted the 2019 championships in June and July, the tournament in Cameroon was postponed to last February instead of the planned summer 2021 date.
Holding matches in January and February raises many problems with European clubs, for which many African professionals play, and they face a crisis by abandoning them at a critical time of the local season.
Senegal beat Egypt on penalties in the final, winning for the first time in its history.
On the other hand, the Confederation of African Football decided to restore the old system of the African Champions League and the Confederations Cup (Confederation Cup), whereby the finals will be played in a home-and-away format. Playoff in three versions.
According to Motsebi, CAF decided to launch a new competition in the summer of 2023 called the “African Super League”.
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