FIFA is giving clubs an extra week before releasing AFCON stars

Star players such as Mohamed Salah, Bryan Mbeumo and Achraf Hakimi can play an extra week for their clubs until December 15 before joining their national teams in the Africa Cup of Nations, FIFA announced on Wednesday.

Top European clubs such as Salah’s Liverpool, Mbeumo’s Manchester United and Hakimi’s Paris Saint-Germain face losing key players for up to five weeks before the 24-nation tournament in Morocco from December 21 to January 18.

But they feared it could take even longer for FIFA to change its rules to soften the blow to clubs by delaying the release date by a week.

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The decision came after “fruitful consultations led by FIFA with key stakeholders and thanks to the spirit of solidarity shown by CAF to reduce the impact on various parties,” FIFA said in a statement, referring to the tournament organizers, the Confederation of African Football.

“It was also decided to encourage member associations participating in the AFCON 2025 and clubs releasing players to engage in bilateral discussions in good faith to find appropriate individual solutions,” FIFA added.

Before FIFA’s ruling, players had to show up for international duty by December 8, meaning English Premier League clubs could have been without vital players for as many as seven or even eight league matches during a particularly busy part of the season.

The competition comes at a difficult time for the likes of high-flying Sunderland and bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers, who could be without seven and five players respectively.

Liverpool will be without Egyptian striker Salah, Manchester City will have to make do without his international teammate Omar Marmoush and Algerian left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, while United will lose Cameroonian Mbeumo, Ivorian winger Amad Diallo and Moroccan full-back Noussair Mazraoui.

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On the other hand, leaders Arsenal, Chelsea and Leeds will remain unaffected.

French and European champions PSG will lose Hakimi, the reigning African player of the year, but other European giants such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​AC Milan and Juventus will see no players involved.

Bayern Munich’s Senegalese striker Nicolas Jackson, on loan from Chelsea, will be at the tournament but will not miss many Bundesliga games as the league is on winter break from December 22 to January 8.

Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Senegal are among the tournament favorites.

Published on December 3, 2025