The 2023 African Cup of Nations concluded in a spectacular manner, with Ivory Coast, the host nation, clinching the coveted trophy. Hailed as the best AFCON in its 67-year history, the excitement from this tournament lingers on. A remarkable 119 goals were scored during the 24-team tournament held in Ivory Coast, surpassed the previous record set in Egypt five years ago by 17 goals, with an impressive average of 2.28 goals per match.
While the euphoria of the recent tournament still envelops us, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has declared that the next edition of the AFCON will take place in 2025 and it will be hosted by Morocco. This will mark the 35th edition of Africa’s biennial national men’s team football competition. Originally slated for January-February 2025, the AFCON 2025 will now be held sometime in the summer.
CAF has tentatively agreed to hold the competition around July/August 2025 in Morocco to avoid conflicts with the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup scheduled for June 2025. Though precise dates have not been disclosed by CAF President Patrice Motsepe, it has been indicated that there is consensus between CAF and the Moroccan Football Federation for the tournament to occur during the summer months.
This postponement is not unprecedented, as both previous AFCON tournaments were rescheduled. AFCON 2021 took place in January-February 2022 in Cameroon, while the most recent edition, officially named AFCON 2023, commenced on January 13 in Côte d’Ivoire and concluded with the host country claiming victory Two weeks ago.
Qualification for AFCON 2025 has yet to commence, with a preliminary round scheduled from March 18 to 26, according to the CAF calendar.
What is the preliminary Round?
On February 20, 2023, the preliminary draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations took place at the Confederation of African Football headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. A total of 52 nations will be vying for qualification in the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025. In the preliminary stage of the qualifiers, the eight lowest-ranked nations according to the FIFA Rankings will compete in a home-and-away knockout format. The four successful nations will then join the 44 others in the group stages of the qualifiers.
The four lowest-ranked nations will play their first leg at home, with the return leg hosted by the higher-ranked opposing nation. All fixtures for both legs of the qualifiers are scheduled to take place during the next FIFA International Break between March 20 and 26, 2024.
The preliminary draw featured the following eight lowest-ranked teams according to the FIFA ranking: Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia, and Eswatini.
Teams to play the AFCON preliminary draw:
Somalisa Vs Eswatini
Chad Vs Mauritius
Djibouti Vs Liberia