Afcon 2023 postponed to 2024 due to unfavorable weather
The following Africa Cup of Nations will be played in Ivory Coast in 2024, and not 2023, Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe said on Sunday.
The competition was to be facilitated in June-July 2023, which is the level of the blustery season in Ivory Coast.
“We can’t face the challenge,” the South African said in the Moroccan capital Rabat.
With the World Cup in Qatar occurring in November and December this year, the choice has been taken to defer the finals as opposed to present them.
It implies the Nations Cup will be held in January and February for the second time in succession, after the current year’s competition in Cameroon.
In 2017, Caf reported that it would move the finals from their customary January-February space to June-July in a bid to keep away from rehashed questions with European clubs compelled to deliver players in the season.
“January isn’t the ideal time in light of the European clubs, however it is the main decision we have,” Motsepe added.
Under previous Caf president Issa Hayatou, who was ousted in 2017, African football’s decision body would not face any conceivable difference in date for the months the mainland’s lead game is facilitated.
However only four months in the wake of assuming responsibility, Hayatou’s replacement – Ahmad of Madagascar – turned this strategy on its head following conference with the landmass’ authorities.
Caf Secretary-General Veron Mosengo-Omba said there are no designs to forever move the finals back to January-February given the differentiating weather conditions across the landmass at various seasons.
At the point when inquired as to why it took Caf such a long time to settle on a choice on this, considering that June and July have been the stormy seasons in Ivory Coast for a long time, Motsepe neglected to straightforwardly resolve the inquiry – saying the decision had been made from ‘graciousness’ with Ivorian coordinators.
Both Motsepe and Mosengo-Omba were talking in Morocco, which is facilitating the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
