Manchester United face future selection nightmare amid Africa Cup of Nations calendar chaos

Manchester United are one of the sides who could be impacted by the proposed rescheduling of the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

Due to the expansion of the Club World Cup, which is set to become a 32-team tournament to be held in USA in the summer of 2025, talks are underway to reschedule the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to be held from late December 2025 to late January 2026, rather than next summer.

The continental competition must be completed in time for the 2026 World Cup to take place a few months later, which in turn could lead to a change in Fifa regulations to allow players to be released for the tournament.

Under current rules, "it is not compulsory to release the same player for more than one “A” representative team final competition per year. Exceptions to this rule can be established by the FIFA Executive Committee for the FIFA Confederations Cup only.” It means that as thing stands, clubs would only need to release eligible players for either the AFCON or the World Cup, but not both tournaments.

United are one of the sides who could be impacted if those rules do change, with Cameroon international Andre Onana and Ivory Coast starlet Amad Diallo both viewed as integral members of their first-team squad.

If the rules are changed and United must release those selected by their nations for both tournaments, they could theoretically be without both Onana and Amad for a number of key matches across the festive schedule, including potential Champions League or Europa League ties.