Major European clubs such as Salah's Liverpool, Mbeumo's Manchester United and Hakimi's Paris Saint-Germain are at risk of losing crucial players for up to five weeks during the 24-team tournament in Morocco from December 21 to January 18.

However, clubs had been concerned the absence could be longer until FIFA adjusted its regulations to ease the impact by postponing the release date by one week.

The move followed "productive discussions led by FIFA with key parties and appreciation for the cooperative attitude shown by CAF to lessen the burden on all involved," FIFA said in a statement, referring to the Confederation of African Football, the event organizers.

"It was also agreed to encourage member associations participating in the 2025 AFCON and clubs releasing players... to conduct sincere bilateral talks to find suitable individual arrangements," FIFA added.

Prior to FIFA’s decision, players were expected to report for international duty by December 8, meaning English Premier League clubs could have been without essential players for as many as seven or eight league matches during a busy period of the season.

The tournament comes at a challenging time for teams like the rising Sunderland and struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers who may lose up to seven and five players respectively.

Liverpool will be without Egyptian forward Salah, Manchester City will miss his international teammate Omar Marmoush and Algeria’s left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, while United will be without Cameroon’s Mbeumo, Ivory Coast winger Amad Diallo and Morocco’s full-back Noussair Mazraoui.

Conversely, league leaders Arsenal, Chelsea and Leeds will not be affected.

French and European champions PSG will lose Hakimi, the current African player of the year, but other European powerhouses such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan and Juventus will not have any players participating.

Bayern Munich's Senegalese forward Nicolas Jackson, on loan from Chelsea, will compete in the tournament but will miss few Bundesliga matches since the league is on winter break from December 22 to January 8.

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