The Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe yesterday said the next Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament, scheduled for 2023, will be played in Ivory Coast in 2024 due to expected bad weather conditions.
The tournament was to be hosted in June-July 2023, which is the height of the rainy season in Ivory Coast.
“We cannot take the risk,” the South African said in the Moroccan capital Rabat.
With the World Cup in Qatar taking place in November and December this year, the decision has been taken to postpone the finals rather than bring them forward.
It means the Nations Cup will be held in January and February for the second time in a row, after this year’s tournament in Cameroon.
In 2017, Caf announced that it would move the finals from their traditional January-February slot to June-July in a bid to avoid repeated disputes with European clubs forced to release players in the middle of the season.
“January is not the ideal time because of the European clubs, but it is the only choice we have,” Motsepe added.
The tournament will feature 24 teams and carry total prize money of $100m, said Motsepe, adding that just over $10m will go to the winner.