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Tag: CAF

  • 2025 AFCON: CAF picks December for start of tournament

    2025 AFCON: CAF picks December for start of tournament

    It has been unanimously agreed by the executive of  Confederation of African Football, (CAF) that the 2025 AFCON should be held between December 21, 2025 and January 18,2026 in the North African country of Morocco.

    Recall that tight football schedule has made it extremely difficult for CAF to stage the tournament in the summer of 2025.

    FIFA had already announced that Club World Cup will hold  in 2025 thus affecting the timing of AFCON.

    The football apex body in the continent held its virtual meeting on Friday and announced the date for the tournament.

    The elephant of Cote D’ Ivoire are the current holders after defeating Nigeria’s Super Eagles 1-0 in the final.

  • 2025 AFCON: CAF to conduct virtual meeting on Friday to deliberate on timing of tournament

    2025 AFCON: CAF to conduct virtual meeting on Friday to deliberate on timing of tournament

    The executive committee of the Confederation of African Football have planned a  Virtual meeting for Friday, June 21st.

    Top on the agenda at the meeting will be the dates for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

    The North African country of Morocco is billed to host both tournaments.

    There were reports of the two competitions being pushed forward due to the 2024 Olympic Games and the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup.

    The meeting will be chaired by CAF president, Patrice Motsepe.

    “The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Executive Committee (“EXCO”) will hold a virtual meeting on Friday, 21 June 202,” reads a statement on CAF’s official website.

    “The EXCO, to be chaired by CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe will deliberate on a number of matters.”

  • Morocco 2025: CAF set to conduct draws for qualifying series

    Morocco 2025: CAF set to conduct draws for qualifying series

    The draws for the qualifying series of TotalEnergies CAF African Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025 will hold on Thursday July 4, 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    According to CAF, the draw will be conducted at SuperSport studios in South Africa at 14h30 local time (15h30 Cairo time, 12h30 GMT.

    48 African countries including the four winners from the preliminary round (Chad, Eswatini, Liberia and South Sudan) will be drawn into 12 Groups of four teams each to battle it out for places at the finals.

    Cote d’Ivoire joined by Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Ethiopia will be involved in the draw.

    Others include Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    After the draw would have been made in July, the qualifying series will officially kick off in  September 2024 where 24 nations that will compete for Africa’s biggest event, the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in 2025 will emerge.

    selected CAF legends, representatives of the participating teams, members of the Local Organising Committee for TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 amongst others will be in attendance for the draw in July.

    Hosts Cote D’Ivoire won the last edition of AFCON after defeating the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-1 at the Alasanne Outtarra stadium in Abidjan.

    CAF is yet to make an announcement concerning when Morocco 2025 AFCON will kick start.

  • AFCON 2025: Tournament not yet postponed – CAF

    AFCON 2025: Tournament not yet postponed – CAF

    The Confederation of African Football, (CAF) has denied reports that the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations has been postponed till 2026

    The 2025 AFCON hosting right has been given to Morocco.

     

    There were  circulated reports about a potential postponement of the competition due to scheduling conflicts with the FIFA Club World Cup, set to take place from June 15 to July 13, 2025, in the United States.

    CAF in a statement denied it, saying  it is yet to decide on AFCON 2025 dates.

    “Reports on AFCON 2025 are untrue.

    The CAF Executive Committee will meet, deliberate and make a decision on the AFCON 2025 dates.

    CAF will thereafter issue official statement on the matter,” reads a statement on CAF’s X platform.

    The delayed 2023 AFCON finals took place early this year in Cote d’Ivoire.

    The Super Eagles finished second after losing 2-1 to the hosts in the final.

  • 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Match tickets go on sale Thursday

    2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier: Match tickets go on sale Thursday

    Tickets to access the Godswill Akpabio Stadium for Friday’s 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying cracker between Nigeria’s Super Eagles and South Africa’s Bafana Bafana will go on sale from Thursday morning.

    While tickets for the popular stands will sell for N1,000 each, tickets to the VIP areas will go for the sum of N3,000 each.

    NFF’s Head of Marketing and Sponsorship, Mr. Alizor Chuks, told thenff.com that tickets will go on sale at a number of designated points including Comfort FM Radio Station (Ikot Akpanabia), Inspiration FM Radio Station (Udo Udoma Street), Memories FM Radio Station (Ernest Bassey Street), De-Choice Shopping Mall, as well as a number of fuel stations and eateries that will be announced later in the day.

    The objective is to have as many sales points as possible away from the stadium, and ensure that sales are concluded by Friday evening before the game commences.

    Friday’s potentially-explosive game will kick off at 8pm.

  • BREAKING: CAF postpones AFCON 2025

    BREAKING: CAF postpones AFCON 2025

    The Confederation of African Unity (CAF) has postponed the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON, till January 2026.

    According to CAF, the tournament will be delayed by six months, as it clashes with the expanded 32-team Club World Cup.

    AFCON 2025 was originally scheduled to take place in June, but the Club World Cup is set to be played in the United States from June 15 to July 13.

    CAF’s general secretary, Veron Mosengo-Omba, told BBC that the AFCON would now be held in early 2026, acknowledging the pressing issue of scheduling conflicts.

    Mosengo-Omba highlighted concerns regarding player welfare, questioning the feasibility of players participating in both the Club World Cup and the AFCON consecutively.

    “For the men, we need to make sure that the dates that we’ll be choosing will be in the interests of the players.

    “For this, we need to balance different aspects and also discuss with our partners and then we complete [the dates]. Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody,” Mosengo-Omba said.

  • U17 AFCON: Eaglets not qualified as CAF insists on a 12-team final tournament

    U17 AFCON: Eaglets not qualified as CAF insists on a 12-team final tournament

    The Confederation of African Football has clarified that next year’s Africa U17 Cup of Nations will still have 12 finalists in attendance, as against the minimum of 16 teams being projected by African football enthusiasts.

    This means that despite defeating host nation Ghana in Tuesday’s third-place match of the WAFU B U17 Championship, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria have not qualified for the finals.

    “The final tournament will still have 12 teams,” CAF’s Director of Competitions, Samson Adamu, told thenff.com.

    Expectations had been high among African football aficionados that the 2025 Africa U17 Cup of Nations would be expanded, following FIFA’s allocation, at its Congress in Bangkok, penultimate week, of 10 slots to the continent for the 2025 FIFA U17 World Cup that Qatar has been designated to host.

    Qatar will host five consecutive FIFA U17 World Cup finals beginning next year, each having 48 teams in attendance.

  • Golden Eaglets’ hopes of playing at the World Cup raised as FIFA increases Africa’s slot to 10

    Golden Eaglets’ hopes of playing at the World Cup raised as FIFA increases Africa’s slot to 10

    The hopes of the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria to feature at the next U-17 World Cup has been raised following the announcement from FIFA increasing Africa’s  slots from 4  to 10.

    Recall that the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria failed to reach the final of WAFU B, a competition meant to produce two representatives for the African U-17 championship holding in Algeria later in the year .

    By virtue of making it to the final of WAFU B, Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire already bagged qualification to African U-17 championship.

    Initially, the African U-17 Championship  was meant to produce four African countries for the World Cup.

    However, rising from its congress few days ago, FIFA announced that 48 countries will participate in the next FIFA U17 World Cup in 2025 and increased the slots allocated to Africa from four to ten.

    Since the announcement, the Confederation of African Football has not stated the modalities for qualification after FIFA increased Africa’s slot to 10.

    FIFA’s increment to 10 slots means that Africa will be able to present six more countries for the World Cup and the hopes of Golden Eaglets and the Black stars of Ghana both countries  who initially crashed out of the qualification process have been raised.

    In all, 48 countries will participate at the next U-17 World Cup taking place in Qatar next year 2025.

     

  • WCQ 2026: CAF releases match details for Nigeria, Benin clash in Abidjan

    WCQ 2026: CAF releases match details for Nigeria, Benin clash in Abidjan

    The venue and kick-off time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture between Nigeria and Benin Republic has been announced by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

    The matchday three encounter will hold at the Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, Abidjan on Monday, June 10.

    The game will kick-off at 5pm Nigeria time.

    It would be recalled that CAF hasn’t approved any stadium in the west African country and force it to move its games to Ivory Coast.

    Ethiopia’s Bamlak Tessema Weyesa has already been appointed centre referee for the game.

    The Super Eagles will host Bafana Bafana of South Africa at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo on Friday,June 7 before the clash with Gernot Rohr’s men.

    The three-time African champions are still searching for their first win in the qualifiers.

    Finidi George’s side are second in Group C with two points from two games.

  • CAF adopts Yorùbá name “Olá” as its official match ball

    CAF adopts Yorùbá name “Olá” as its official match ball

    The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has taken a significant step towards celebrating African culture and heritage by adopting a Yorùbá name, “OLÁ,” for its official match ball used in interclub competitions.

    This decision comes ahead of an exciting weekend filled with top-tier football action as Africa’s premier clubs compete for glory in the CAF Confederation Cup and CAF Champions League finals.

    In collaboration with matchball producers PUMA, CAF unveiled the new match ball, “OLÁ,” which holds deep symbolic meaning across multiple languages. In Yorùbá, “OLÁ” signifies “wealth,” “honour,” and “respect,” while in Arabic, it represents “rise” and “success.” This dual significance reflects the diverse linguistic and cultural tapestry of Africa, emphasizing unity and collective achievement.

    Explaining the choice of name, CAF highlighted that “OLÁ” was selected to embody the dynamic and energetic nature of African football, capturing the spirit of perseverance, progress, and excellence that defines the continent’s footballing landscape.

    The design of the “OLÁ” match ball draws inspiration from Africa’s vibrant colors, rich artistic heritage, and traditional motifs, creating a visually striking and culturally significant symbol of African football identity.

    Football enthusiasts can experience the essence of “OLÁ” firsthand as it makes its debut this weekend. The action kicks off in Tunis with Espérance Sportive de Tunis facing Al Ahly of Egypt in the first leg of the CAF Champions League Final. On Sunday, Zamalek hosts RS Berkane in the second leg of the CAF Confederation Cup final at the iconic Cairo International Stadium, showcasing the prowess and passion of Africa’s top football clubs.

    CAF’s adoption of “OLÁ” as the official match ball signifies a meaningful step towards embracing African languages, cultures, and traditions within the realm of football. It is a testament to the continent’s rich diversity and the power of sports to unite and inspire across borders and languages.