The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has moved the next Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) which will be played in Ivory Coast to 2024.
CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, confirmed this on Sunday.
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,” Motsepe 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.
Under former Caf president Issa Hayatou, who was overthrown in 2017, African football’s ruling body refused to countenance any possible change of date for the months the continent’s flagship sports event is hosted.
