Morocco: a tug-of-war with FIFA over the date of the 2025 AFCON

"We have proposed that the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco start in the third week of July, specifically between July 23 and August 21, 2025. I think the Federation wants to organize this tournament in the summer, in order to ensure a strong presence of the public, particularly the Moroccan community living abroad," said a senior official within the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) to the newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed. The governing body of Moroccan football is thus insisting on holding the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in the summer of 2025.

The FRMF bases its decision on three points. The first: when Morocco submitted its candidacy to host the 2025 AFCON, it conditioned its organization on the summer period. Second point: the kingdom has ensured that the holding of the African tournament in the summer will not coincide with the FIFA Club World Cup, scheduled in the United States in 2025, which should end in the second week of July. Third point: Morocco has committed to upgrading the five candidate stadiums to host the AFCON matches by the end of March 2025. In short, it is impossible to organize the continental competition in January, as usual.

On Sunday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino had a conversation with his counterparts from CAF, Patrice Motsepe, and the FRMF, Fouzi Lekjaâ, about the date of the 35th edition of the AFCON, in Abidjan, on the sidelines of the handover ceremony that took place at the end of the final won by the Elephants of Côte d’Ivoire against Nigeria (2-1) at the Ebimpé stadium, revealed the Kooora website. On this occasion, Infantino proposed to him to organize the tournament either in March 2025, or to postpone it to January 2026. The Moroccan football boss did not give a definitive answer to the FIFA president. He simply insisted on Morocco’s organization of the African tournament in the summer.