AFCON 2025 release-date confusion: will Premier League stars leave on December 8 or 15?

Sunderland hit hardest with 7 call ups

AFCON 2025 release-date confusion: will Premier League stars leave on December 8 or 15?

A late twist has emerged in the build up to AFCON 2025 as confusion grows around the official release date for African internationals.

FIFA’s circulars sent to clubs & federations confirm that players must be released by 8 December 2025 exactly two week before the tournament kicks off in Morocco on 21 December.

But parallel reporting in England including Sky Sports Keith Downie indicates that FIFA has privately allowed clubs to keep their AFCON players until 15 December, just seven day before the opening match.

If implemented that concession would not remove the disruption but it would soften the impact for Premier League teams navigating the most intense month of the season.

Who loses the most? Sunderland & Wolves lead the AFCON exodus

According to breakdowns from ESPN & FourFourTwo, AFCON 2025 will touch almost every club in the Premier League.

Sunderland – 7 player

The league’s surprise package also becomes England’s biggest AFCON exporter. Expected call-ups include:

• Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)

• Arthur Masuaku & Noah Sadiki (DR Congo)

• Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast)

• Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco)

• Reinildo (Mozambique)

• Habib Diarra (Senegal)

Wolves – 5 player

• Jackson Tchatchoua (Cameroon)

• Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast)

• Tolu Arokodare (Nigeria)

• Zimbabwe duo Marshall Munetsi & Tawanda Chirewa may all travel

The chasing pack: United, Fulham, Burnley, Forest, Palace

Manchester United – 3 player

• Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon)

• Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast)

• Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco)

New coach Ruben Amorim has already warned the club about December & January AFCON crunch.

Fulham – 3 player

• Alex Iwobi (Nigeria)

• Calvin Bassey (Nigeria)

• Chukwueze headline Nigeria’s options

Burnley – 4 player

• Axel Tuanzebe (DRC)

• Lyle Foster (South Africa)

• Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia)

Crystal Palace – up to 4

• Ismaïla Sarr (Senegal)

• Cheick Doucouré (Mali)

• Chadi Riad (Morocco)

• Christantus Uche (Nigeria)

Nottingham Forest – up to 4

• Ibrahim Sangaré (Ivory Coast)

• Willy Boly (Ivory Coast)

• Taiwo Awoniyi & Ola Aina (Nigeria)

Title contenders: affected but less severely

Manchester City – 2 player

• Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria)

• Omar Marmoush (Egypt)

Liverpool – 1 player

All focus remains on Mohamed Salah, with Egyptian media suggesting he could miss six to eight match if Egypt reach the latter stages.

Liverpool are pushing to delay his release until the very last minute.

Tottenham – 2 player

• Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal)

• possibly Yves Bissouma (Mali)

West Ham – 2 player

• Wan-Bissaka (DR Congo)

• potentially Malick Diouf (Senegal)

The rest of the league

• Aston Villa: Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast)

• Brighton: Carlos Baleba (Cameroon)

• Brentford: Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria)

• Everton: Iliman Ndiaye & Idrissa Gueye (Senegal), Adam Aznou (Morocco) a possible call up

• Bournemouth: Amine Adli (Morocco)

• Newcastle: Yoane Wissa (DR Congo), fitness permitting

Meanwhile, Arsenal, Chelsea & Leeds United currently have no AFCON internationals in their first-team squads.

What the December 15 leeway actually changes?

If the strict 8 December release date applies, AFCON bound players will miss four to six domestic match depending on club fixtures.

But the bottom line remains unchanged: