The Can 2025 will be played in Morocco, but in 2026, as announced Friday by Caf. Instead of starting in mid-January as usual, the tournament will take place from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026. New dates which are controversial.
The first reason why this postponement is causing discussion is the very busy schedule that awaits African players. Some of them will in fact have three major competitions in the space of a year: Club World Cup in the summer of 2025, Can at the start of 2026 then the World Cup in the summer of 2026. Which inevitably raises questions about competitiveness African selections for this first 48-team World Cup, as well as the physical condition of the players.
This point also represents the second reason why the new dates of the Can are controversial. The new format of the Uefa Champions League provides for important matches (the last two days of the group stage) scheduled for the end of January, upon the return of the Can… Which means that the players who will participate in this Can will have no outages during the season.
Thirdly, these dates are also controversial because this new edition in the land of the Atlas Lions falls during the end-of-year holidays (Christmas and New Year), taking players away from their families for these important moments…
The FIFA Club World Cup as well as the new formula of the Champions League thus seem to have priority over the Can, which is “not respected”, once again, as several voices deplore.
Indeed, Caf had to comply with the demands of Fifa and Uefa by opting for these dates which ultimately only suit these two bodies. One for the Club World Cup and the other because the Can falls during the “winter break” of the LoC.
This impression of being the last wheel of the carriage inevitably causes talk throughout Africa and beyond. Even if the European clubs having in their squad African footballers likely to play in the CAN are also somewhat aggrieved.
Afrik-foot
