Clubs across Europe have received a major relief ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, as FIFA announced on Wednesday that African stars, including Mohamed Salah, Bryan Mbeumo and Achraf Hakimi, can remain with their clubs until December 15, one week later than initially mandated.
The 24-nation tournament, scheduled for December 21 to January 18 in Morocco, will see several top European sides lose key players for up to five weeks. But with the adjustment, the disruption will now be slightly reduced.
FIFA said the decision followed “fruitful consultations” with major stakeholders and praised CAF for demonstrating “a spirit of solidarity” by agreeing to push the player-release date forward by a week.
The governing body also urged clubs and national federations to “engage in good faith bilateral discussions” to manage individual situations as smoothly as possible.
Before the revision, players were required to report for international duty by December 8, a timeline that could have forced Premier League sides to navigate up to eight matches without key squad members during one of the busiest stretches of the season.
The updated release date offers limited relief to clubs likely to be heavily hit.
Clubs such as Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers could still be without as many as seven and five players respectively.
Liverpool will lose Egypt captain Salah, Manchester City will be without his compatriot Omar Marmoush and Algeria’s Rayan Aït-Nouri, while Manchester United will part with Cameroon’s Mbeumo, Ivory Coast winger Amad Diallo and Morocco’s Noussair Mazraoui.
League leaders Arsenal, Chelsea and Leeds, however, will not be affected.
In France, Paris Saint-Germain will have to do without Hakimi, the reigning African Footballer of the Year, although heavyweight clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan and Juventus have no direct AFCON absences.
Bayern Munich’s Senegalese forward Nicolas Jackson, currently on loan from Chelsea, will feature at the tournament but will miss fewer Bundesliga matches as Germany’s top flight enters its winter break from December 22 to January 8.
Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Senegal head into the competition as early favourites for the continental crown.