By Victor Kanayo
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the preliminary draw for Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2025 will be staged on Tuesday February 20, 2024 in Cairo, Egypt.
This followed the conclusion of the 2023 edition of the tournament in Cote d’ivoire few days ago.
According to CAF in a statement, “The draw will be conducted at 14h00 local time (12h00 GMT).
“The preliminary round of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 will include the eight (8) lowest-ranked teams according to the FIFA ranking: Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia and Eswatini.
“The matches will be played on home and away basis during the FIFA Window of 18-26 March 2024. The four (4) preliminary round winners will join the 44 exempted teams for the group stage.”
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Meanwhile, the 35th edition of the competition scheduled for Morocco will be held between July and August, 2025.
This was confirmed by CAF on Monday.
The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in January and February 2025, but was postponed due to concerns about the weather conditions in Morocco during that time of year.
The 2025 Afcon will be the third consecutive edition of the tournament to be held in the summer, following the 2021 and 2023 tournaments which were held in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire respectively.
The 2025 tournament will be the first to feature 32 teams, up from the current 24-team format.
