In light of the weather in Ivory Coast, the governing body of African football has announced new dates for the 34th edition of the competition.
The Africa Cup of Nations finals, slated to take place in the Ivory Coast from June 2023 to January 2024, have been officially postponed, according to Caf.
The 34th edition, which was previously slated for June 23 to July 23, 2023, will not be played as planned due to the weather in the West African nation, the governing body of African football declared on Sunday through President Dr. Patrice Motsepe.
Mostepe informed the media during a news conference in Morocco that the 2023 Afcon would henceforth be played between January and February 2024. The official dates will be announced later, however this was one of the topics we covered during our congress conference here in Morocco.
“We made the required declaration today [Sunday] because we have partners and, even though we make decisions, it is out of respect that we heed the advise we are getting that we cannot take a risk [by hosting the event].”
“We have to postpone it because playing in a tournament that could be canceled is bad for African football, bad for Africa, and bad for the continent itself.”
However, Motsepe praised Ivory Coast for the preparations they have already made to host the competition.
Motsepe stated, “I am pleased and delighted with the infrastructure put in place by Ivory Coast in preparation for the event, and I am confident they will host a very strong tournament.
Following the final decision at the Caf Executive Committee meeting on September 20, 2014, the African body announced Guinea, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast as the hosts of the 2019, 2021, and 2023 Afcon tournaments, respectively.
“We made the required declaration today [Sunday] because we have partners and, even though we make decisions, it is out of respect that we heed the advise we are getting that we cannot take a risk [by hosting the event].”
“We have to postpone it because playing in a tournament that could be canceled is bad for African football, bad for Africa, and bad for the continent itself.”
Senegal won the most recent Afcon, which was hosted in Cameroon, after defeating Egypt on penalties in the championship match. The original timeline for the competition was April 4–April 25, 2020.
But on March 17, 2020, Caf declared that the competition had been postponed until a later time because to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Even though they initially said the event will take place in January 2020 on June 30, it really happened earlier this year.
