'How can a Club World Cup be more important?' - Anger as rumors suggest AFCON 2025 will be postponed

Football fans in Africa have reacted to widespread reports that the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled to be held in Morocco, has been postponed.

Recall that reports emerged stating that the tournament had been pushed back for six months due to a scheduling conflict with the expanded 32-team FIFA Club World Cup, which will take place in the U.S. from June 15 to July 13, 2025.

In an interview with the BBC, General Secretary Veron Mosengo-Omba stated that the Nations Cup finals would be held in early 2026.

"We can play after the Club World Cup, but is this good for the interests of the players who have already played the entire season and then have to travel to America to play, only to immediately return to play AFCON?" Mosengo-Omba questioned.

"Scheduling is a nightmare for everybody," he added.

The Confederation of African Football, however, denied his comments.

"Reports about AFCON 2025 are false. The CAF Executive Committee will meet, deliberate, and decide on the AFCON 2025 dates. CAF will then issue an official statement on the matter," CAF stated via its official handle on Wednesday.

However, CAF did not specify when the executive committee will meet, and as of now, the 2025 tournament does not have a set date.

CAF has also faced criticism for its failure to set dates for this year's women's Africa Cup of Nations finals, also to be held in Morocco.

See how some fans reacted

Wilson K Senya commented: "Would clubs participating in the club world club be willing to release players for Afcon? would Afcon be able to compete for attention with the club world cup?"

Delali Phrank Awutey said: "But how do we have to wait for club World Cup before we can play our own tournament, this doesn’t make any sense"

Gary Al-Smith - Journalist wrote: "Our own tournament too we have to wait for CLUB World Cup to be played? This is so sad. Will UEFA agree to change the date of the Euros for a Club World Cup?"

Asamoah Yaw Wisberg commented: "We as Africa always limit ourselves or subject our ourselves to some unnecessary laughter so how didn’t the club World Cup being delayed rather than our own Afcon we just have to be serious."

Sennah Johnson Gilbert wrote: "Masa we should go back to our January schedule, they want to say their club world cup is more important than national teams competition?"

Moses Okoth Oloo said: "Club world cup? How can a club world cup be more important than our own world cup?"