CAF president Dr Patrice Motsepe has explained why the announcement for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations dates took longer.
Africa's premier competition will be scheduled to start in December 2025, which is expected to be a winter tournament in Morocco.
There is also the matter of the new expanded FIFA World Cup taking place June of 2025, which means it will be a busy year.
Read: OFFICIAL: CAF confirms dates for AFCON 2025
Motsepe insists CAF have taken note of the extensive football calendar next year when making the decision.
"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.
"I am also impressed by the enormous growth of Women's Football in Africa and I am expecting the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024 to be immensely successful. 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. CAF is also committed to building mutually beneficial relationships with the ECA, UEFA, other Football Confederations and FIFA.
Get the latest soccer news and be ahead of the game. Follow our WhatsApp Channel via this link.
"We will continue to make significant progress in developing and ensuring that African Football is globally competitive and amongst the best in the World. CAF is grateful to King Mohamed VI of Morocco, the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football ("FRMF"), its President Fouzi Lekjaa, the Government and people of Morocco for hosting the CAF TotalEnergies AFCON Morocco 2025 and the CAF TotalEnergies WAFCON Morocco 2024."
Teams in Europe could also be unhappy with the dates as they are set to lose their African footballers much sooner, especially in the Premier League when the festive schedule takes place.