2023 AFCON Finals To Be Held In June/July

The Confederation of African Football’s acting Secretary-General Abdel Bah has confirmed the dates for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament.

Bah said the tournament will be held in June/July in line with CAF’s decision in 2017 to schedule all future Nations Cup for these months to avoid a clash with the European domestic season. Said Bah:

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.

The 2021 AFCON finals were pushed to 2022 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The dates were also changed from June/July period to January due to the host country – Cameroon – experiencing wet conditions during the middle of the year.

Given that Ivory Coast suffers its wettest month of the year in June, the 2023 finals could also happen at the start of the year.

Both Cameroon and Ivory Coast lie within the equatorial climatic region.

More: BBC Sport, Soccer24