March 31 – The next Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast will run from January 13 to February 11 next year, potentially throwing up yet another club versus country clash for top African players in Europe’s elite leagues.
The 2023 finals were postponed from June-July this year due to concerns over the weather at that time, and will instead be played in the middle of the 2023/24 European season.
CAF ideally wants to carry out its pledge to follow the European calendar by playing the finals in summer in the future but can’t when it is hosted in west Africa due to heavy rains in that part of the continent over those months.
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, Bayern Munich forward Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez from Manchester City and Victor Osimhen of Napoli are just some of the key players for their teams that could miss as many as five weeks of next season depending on how far they get at the finals.
The month-long tournament returns to the Ivory Coast for the first time since 1984, with six nations, outside of the hosts, having qualified so far for the 24-team competition. They are Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, defending champions Senegal, Tunisia and Burkina Faso.
There are two more rounds of qualifiers to go in June and September.
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