CAF to change tourney dates

JOHANNESBURG. — The Confederation of African Football (CAF) club season will run between September or October and May from 2019 to bring it in line with most African leagues, the organisation said on Wednesday.

Currently, CAF Champions League and second-tier CAF Confederation Cup fixtures are played between February and November.

This means clubs involved in August-to-May domestic seasons who qualify for the group stages of the CAF competitions are deprived of an off-season break and pre-season training.

CAF spokesman Junior Binyam said the 2018 competitions, whose preliminary and first-round draws were made Wednesday, would fit into a traditional February-to-November season.

The 2019 editions will begin in December 2018 and run until May 2019 with the 2019-2020 seasons kicking off in September or October 2019 and ending the following May.

A CAF symposium in Morocco this year agreed to change the club season dates because the majority of African domestic leagues are run between August and May.

The biennial African Cup of Nations tournament for national teams will move from January and February to June and July from the 2019 tournament in Cameroon.

This decision was announced earlier this year to prevent club-versus-country clashes with an increasing number of Europebased Africans reluctant to leave their clubs in mid-season.