The Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Patrice Motsepe, has revealed the next cup of nations will be held in the 2024 football calendar year. The tournament was to be hosted in June-July 2023, which is the height of the rainy season in Ivory Coast.
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With the World Cup in Qatar taking place in November and December this year, the decision has been taken to postpone the finals rather than bring them forward.
It means the Nations Cup will be held in January and February for the second time in a row, after this year’s tournament in Cameroon.
In 2017, CAF announced that it would move the finals from its traditional January-February slot to June-July in a bid to avoid repeated disputes with European clubs forced to release players in the middle of the season.
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Four months after taking charge following his historic win in the CAF Presidential elections, Hayatou’s successor – Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar – turned the policy of the period the competition will be hosted on its head following consultation with the continent’s officials.
CAF Secretary-General, Veron Mosengo-Omba, said there are no plans to permanently move the finals back to January-February given the contrasting weather patterns across the continent at different times of the year.
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When asked why it took CAF so long to make a decision on this matter, given that June and July have been the rainy seasons in Ivory Coast for many years, Motsepe failed to directly address the question – saying the choice had been made ‘out of courtesy’ with Ivorian organisers.
Both Motsepe and Mosengo-Omba were speaking in Morocco, which is hosting the ongoing Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.