The 2021 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament hosts, Cameroon has on Wednesday announced the rescheduling of the tournament to its original January and February slots due to climate change.
The Cameroon Football Federation (Fecafoot) made the disclosure saying the tournament will commence from January 9 to February 6, 2021 as opposed to the planned summer tournament of June-July.
Fecafoot said the decision was made after much deliberation with the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
"We have reviewed the period of the competition as requested by the Cameroonian party due to unfavourable climatic conditions during the period initially slated," said Caf's deputy general secretary, Tony Baffoe.
"After listening to the various arguments and viewpoints, and in particular from the Cameroonian meteorological authorities, the coaches and players; the representatives of the AFCON organising committee, which received the mandate from Caf Executive Committee to take the decision, has granted this request."
This will mean premier league clubs will lose key players like Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Naby Keita as they would be playing for their respective countries for six weeks.
