AFCON 2025: Preliminary Round Fixtures Announced by CAF, Tournament Gets New Date

• The qualifiers for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will kick off in March
• The Confederation of Africa Football have conducted the prelim draws
• Ivory Coast are the defending champions after winning it on home soil

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the preliminary round draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, which is set to feature eight teams.

The continent's eight lowest-ranked teams per the most recent FIFA rankings will clash, with the draws conducted on Tuesday at CAF's headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

According to the Daily Post, Somalia, Eswatini, Sao Tome and Principe, South Sudan, Chad, Mauritius, Djibouti, and Liberia all featured in the draws, with the preliminary knock-out round set to take place in March.

The games, planned to be contested at home and away between March 20 and March 26, 2024, will determine the four preliminary round champions, who will join 44 exempted teams in the AFCON group stages.

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However, only 24 teams from those 44 countries will advance to the final qualifiers to compete for the continental title when the AFCON championship kicks off in Morocco.

AFCON 2025 preliminary draw fixtures

First leg:

Somalia vs Eswatini

Sao Tome vs South Sudan

Chad vs Mauritius

Djibouti vs Liberia.

Second leg:

Eswatini vs Somalia

South Sudan vs Sao Tome

Mauritius vs Chad

Liberia vs Djibouti.

AFCON 2025 gets new date

Meanwhile, CAF has announced that AFCON 2025 will take place in the summer, between July 20 and August 17, rather than the winter schedule from the last edition in Ivory Coast, Soccernet reports.

Six Moroccan cities, namely Tangier, Rabat, Casablanca, Agadir, Marrakesh, and Fez, have been announced as the host cities for the continental tournament by the African football body.

Following the success of AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast, criticism about the host country's humid weather was taken into account, resulting in a change in the season during which the competition took place.

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Ivorians still jubilant after AFCON success

Earlier, Sports Brief also reported that one week after the conclusion of AFCON 2023, Ivorian fans are still celebrating their national team's incredible victory and their third continental success.

In a dramatic final on February 11 at the cutting-edge Stade Alassane Ouattara, the Elephants rallied from a goal down to defeat Nigeria 2-1, with Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller scoring.