Initially scheduled for June 2023, the African Cup of Nations football will be played from January 2024. The reason? The rainy season in Côte d'Ivoire, the host country, which risked disrupting the competition.
It's official. At the end of the meeting of the executive committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Morocco this Sunday, July 3, the date of CAN 2023 has been postponed by 6 months. The competition was to be held in Ivory Coast between June 23 and July 23 next year.
However, torrential rains have prevented the holding of several football matches in Côte d'Ivoire in recent days. What brought the attention of CAF: the next CAN was to take place during the next rainy season, so we had to expect downpours during the meetings.
In order to prevent the weather from affecting the course of the competition, therefore, CAF President Patrice Motsepe announced that CAN 2023 would take place "in January and February 2024".
A report that pleases everyone
Postponements or host country changes are now the norm for AFCON. CAN 2013 (Libya) finally took place in South Africa. In 2015, Equatorial Guinea organized the CAN instead of Morocco. Four years later, Cameroon had left its CAN to Egypt. And due to organizational problems, Cameroon was only able to hold CAN 2021 in 2022.
Côte d'Ivoire is therefore no exception to the rule. But this six-month delay should also work in favor of the country of elephants, allowing the end of the renovation of the four stadiums which are still under construction more quietly.
The postponement of CAN 2023 will also allow teams participating in the last four days of the qualifiers to request a truce from CAF. Indeed, if Tunisia, Morocco and Ghana no longer play qualifying matches before next March, Cameroon and Senegal, the two other African teams qualified for the World Cup will be able to delay their matches of September 2022. This would allow for the Indomitable Lions and Teranga Lions to schedule friendly matches to prepare for the Qatar World Cup. The latter begins on November 21.
Motsepe in Rabat for the Women's AFCON 2022
The announcement of the postponement of CAN 2023 took place during a press conference in Rabat, the Moroccan capital. CAF officials are present there on the occasion of the women's CAN 2022, which started on Saturday and will continue until July 23.
In the opening game, Morocco won against Burkina Faso. This Sunday, Senegal, Cameroon and Tunisia face Uganda, Zambia and Togo respectively..
Nigeria's Super Falcons will face South Africa on Monday 4 July. As a reminder, the Nigeria women's team is not only the title holder, but has also won 11 out of 13 women's AFCONs.