Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has postponed the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) billed to take place in Ivory Coast to 2024.
The tournament was earlier fixed for June-July 2023 but due to a forecast that the weather condition at that period could mar the competition, the continent’s apex football governing body decided to shift it to the next year.
According to information made available on Sunday, the next AFCON will take place between January and February 2024, when the weather is expected to be okay.
Most countries in the West African region witness heavy downpours between May and July, which make most football pitches waterlogged. However, between January and March, it is mostly dry season, which is why the tournament has also been held in that period.
There have been calls from players and others for the competition to be moved to mid-year because it is when most clubs in Europe, where some participants of the AFCON, ply their trades.
They usually find it difficult to attend the event because their European clubs are always reluctant to release them.
CAF attempted to move the competition to mid-year but reports of heavy rains in the next host of AFCON have forced the organisation to change its mind.
According to the president of CAF, Mr Patrice Motsepe, “We cannot take the risk” to hold the tournament between June and July next year.
The South African football administrator, while speaking in Rabat, the capital of Morocco today, stated that CAF was left with no other choice than to move the competition to January despite not being “the ideal time because of the European clubs.”
It was gathered that CAF would have moved the 2023 AFCON to next January but this was not considered because the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is scheduled to hold in November and December and it would be difficult for African players to return for another competition just two months after the Mundial.
