The dates for AFCON have been announced and it will have huge implications for Premier League teams

The new dates for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament will have a huge impact on next season's Premier League schedule.

For the first time in its history, AFCON will be played in December and run over the Christmas and New Year period.

Originally scheduled for June and July 2025, the competition in Morocco has been moved to avoid clashes with FIFA's inaugural 32-team Club World Cup.

CAF officials were also wary of interrupting the Champions League calendar but finally, after a length delay, it was confirmed on Friday that AFCON will begin on December 21, 2025 and end on January 18, 2026.

Considering how busy the Christmas and New Year schedule is in England, the new dates will likely upset many Premier League clubs.

Whether Europe's top clubs will release players for the tournament is another matter, but CAF president Dr Patrice Motsepe is positive about the move.

“I am confident that the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 will be extremely successful and will be the best AFCON in the history of this competition," Motsepe said.

"The announcement of the dates of the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 took much longer than expected, as there were complex and at times challenging discussions with various interested parties, in the light of the extensive International and Domestic Match Calendars.

"CAF is committed to protecting and advancing the interests of African players, playing in football clubs in Europe and worldwide."

He added: "We will continue to make significant progress in developing and ensuring that African Football is globally competitive and amongst the best in the world."

It must be noted that cubs are within their rights to block players from going to AFCON.

FIFA's regulations state: "It is not compulsory to release the same player for more than one "A" representative team final competition per year."

Image credit: Getty

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher recently spoke out against the amount of football players were being asked to feature in.

“The amount of football we ask the top players to play is beyond a joke," he said. “The quality drops & more importantly the injuries rise. FIFPRO will have more battles on their hands with UEFA and FIFA going forward.”