AFCON 2025 preview, schedule: Egypt, Morocco, Senegal and Algeria the favorites

On Sunday, the Africa Cup of Nations will begin as Ivory Coast attempt to retain their 2023 title with the tournament being held in Morocco this campaign. Africa’s premier football competition, no team has won the tournament consecutively since Egypt completed a treble from 2006 to 2010. So history is not on Ivory Coast’s side, especially with so many promising teams around them looking to challenge for the title.

A total of 24 teams will participate in the tournament, which will run until January 18, when the final will take place at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, Morocco. It expanded to this number in 2019 after being a 16-team tournament since 1996. With the tournament taking place during the season for most of Europe’s big teams, teams around the world will have to do without their stars during the group stage, but with the winter break taking place around this time, the majority of the group stage will only see players miss one or two matches, which will be music to the ears of teams like Sunderland who have six players absent for the tournament.

The 2027 edition of the tournament will take place during the summer to avoid this problem, but with the Club World Cup in 2029, the CAN will again take place in winter as it fits into a constrained global football calendar. Here’s what you need to know about this year’s tournament:

Tournament format

While Morocco’s place was automatic due to the organization of the tournament, the other 23 teams had to go through a qualifying tournament, which is why a team like Cabo Verde that will participate in the World Cup will not participate in the AFCON because they finished at the bottom of their qualifying group. Ghana find themselves in a similar situation after failing to qualify for the first time since 2004, but will represent CAF at the 2026 World Cup.

Of the 24 teams in the tournament, the top two teams will advance to the round of 16 alongside the four best third-placed teams. In the event of a tie on points, the following tiebreakers are applied in order:

1. Points in head-to-head matches between tied teams
2. Goal difference in matches between tied teams
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches against tied teams
4. If more than two teams are tied on all points above, this applies to goal difference in all group stage matches and goals scored in all group matches.
5. Draw

The key players of the CAN

Mohamed Salah could lead the way with star power at the AFCON, as the Liverpool man leaves to represent Egypt. It is still unclear whether he will continue to be a Liverpool player upon his return, with the transfer window open after the group stage of the tournament, but his manager, Arne Slot, expects Salah to be a Liverpool player. Below is a selection of some players to watch who will be present at the CAN, organized by the league they represent.

• First League: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool/Egypt), Iliman Ndiaye (Everton/Senegal), Carlos Baleba (Brighton/Cameroon), Ismaila Sarr (Crystal Palace/Senegal), Alex Iwobi (Fulham/Nigeria), Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham/Senegal), Dango Ouattara (Brentford/Burkina Faso), Omar Marmoush (Manchester City/Egypt), Rayan Ait-Nouri (Manchester City/Algeria), Bryan Mbuemo (Manchester United/Cameroon), Amad Diallo (Manchester United/Ivory Coast), Noah Sadiki (Sunderland/DR Congo), Chemsdine Talbi (Sunderland/Morocco), Reinildo (Sunderland/Mozambique)
• Bundesliga: Nicolas Jackson (Bayern Munich/Cameroon), Edmond Tapsoba (Bayer Leverkusen/Burkina Faso), Bilal El Khannouss (Stuttgart/Morocco), Mohamed Amoura (Wolfsburg/Algeria)
• La Liga: Nicolas Pepe (Villarreal/Ivory Coast), Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid/Morocco)
• League 1: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Marseille/Gabon), Chancel Mbemba (Lille/DR Congo), Nayef Aguerd (Marseille/Morocco), Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain/Morocco), Ibrahim Mbaye (Paris Saint-Germain/Senegal)
• Series A: Ademola Lookman (Atalanta/Nigeria)
• Turkish Super League: Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray/Nigeria)

CAN ranking

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

How to watch the CAN

You can watch all tournament matches live on Fubo (try it for free).

CAN calendar

Group stage
All times Eastern

December 21

• Morocco – Comoros, 2:00 p.m.

December 22

• Mali – Zambia, 9 a.m.
• South Africa – Angola, 12:00 p.m.
• Egypt – Zimbabwe, 8:00 p.m.

December 23

• DR Congo – Benin, 12:30 p.m.
• Senegal – Botswana, 3:00 p.m.
• Nigeria – Tanzania, 5:30 p.m.
• Tunisia – Uganda, 8 p.m.

December 24

• Burkina Faso – Equatorial Guinea, 12:30 p.m.
• Algeria – Sudan, 3:00 p.m.
• Ivory Coast – Mozambique, 5:30 p.m.
• Cameroon – Gabon, 8 p.m.

December 26

• Angola – Zimbabwe, 12:30 p.m.
• Egypt – South Africa, 3:00 p.m.
• Zambia – Comoros, 5:30 p.m.
• Morocco – Mali, 8 p.m.

December 27

• Benin – Botswana, 12:30 p.m.
• Senegal – DR Congo, 3 p.m.
• Uganda – Tanzania, 5:30 p.m.
• Nigeria – Tunisia, 8 p.m.

December 28

• Gabon – Mozambique, 12:30 p.m.
• Equatorial Guinea – Sudan, 3:00 p.m.
• Algeria – Burkina Faso, 5:30 p.m.
• Ivory Coast – Cameroon, 8 p.m.

December 29

• Angola – Egypt, 4:00 p.m.
• Zimbabwe – South Africa, 4:00 p.m.
• Comoros – Mali, 7 p.m.
• Zambia – Morocco, 7 p.m.

December 30

• Tanzania – Tunisia, 4:00 p.m.
• Uganda – Nigeria, 4:00 p.m.
• Benin – Senegal, 7 p.m.
• Botswana – DR Congo, 7 p.m.

December 31

• Equatorial Guinea – Algeria, 4:00 p.m.
• Sudan – Burkina Faso, 4:00 p.m.
• Gabon – Ivory Coast, 7 p.m.
• Mozambique – Cameroon, 7 p.m.

Knockout stage

• Round of 16: January 3-6
• Quarter-finals: January 9-10
• Semi-finals: January 13
• Third place match: January 17
• Final: January 18