Abdel Bah, the acting General Secretary of the Confederation of African Football has confirmed to BBC Sport Africa that the 2023 AFCON will be staged in June/July.
In June this year, CAF President, Ahmad Ahmad, expressed uncertainty over the actual months in which the tournament was to be played.
“As of today, the 2023 Nations Cup is planned for June/July because, to make it clear, in the regulations we have decided to play all Nations Cups in June/July,” Bah told BBC Sport Africa.
Because of the inconsistencies of the date in which the AFCON is played, in 2017, CAF decided to enshrine in its regulations that all AFCONs be played in these months.
The next Nations Cup will take place in January 2022 however owing to unfavourable weather conditions in Cameroon in June and July, when the host country suffers some of the wettest months of the year.
“The Nations Cup in Cameroon, after the request of the authorities, was postponed to January/February,” added Bah.
“As of today, we haven’t received the same request from Ivorian authorities.”
Given that Ivory Coast suffers its wettest month of the year in June, such a request should not be ruled out.
It is suggested that the main reason behind shifting AFCON 2023’s date forward is due to the 2022 FIFA World Cup which will be held between November and December in Qatar.
Source: MyNewsGh.com
