The Confederation of African Football, CAF, have confirmed the kick off and final dates for (AFCON 2023) Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, www.aclsports.com reports.
It will be recalled that the tournament earlier scheduled to be staged this year was rescheduled for January 2024 and a start date has now been confirmed by the continent’s football governing body.
The opening match of the 34th edition of the tournament has been scheduled to take place on Saturday, 13 January 2024 at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe, Abidjan reads a statement from CAF. The four-week tournament, pitting Africa’s best 24 nations will officially conclude on 11 February 2024.
CAF General Secretary, Veron Mosengo-Omba also confirmed that the Final Draw of the Africa Cup of Nations 2023 Cote d’Ivoire will be held in September 2023. The date and venue will be confirmed in due course.
Following this past weekend’s round of qualifiers, six countries secured their place in the competition joining hosts, Cote d’Ivoire. They are Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Tunisia, Burkina Faso and African champions, Senegal.
Meanwhile, the Super Eagles of Nigeria will look to seal qualification in the next set of qualifiers having returned to winning ways against Guinea-Bissau on Monday. In June, Jose Peseiro’s men will face Sierra Leone in Morocco and Sao Tome and Principe in Abuja.
At the last edition, Austin Eguavoen’s led side failed to go past the round of 16 as they were knocked out by Tunisia, but they will be hoping for a better outing in Ivory Coast in nine months’ time.