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

On Sunday, the Africa Cup of Nations will kick off as the Ivory Coast will look to retain their title from 2023 as the tournament takes place in Morocco this campaign. The premier competition of African soccer, no team has won the tournament back-to-back since Egypt did a three-peat from 2006-2010, so history isn’t on the Ivory Coast’s side, especially with so many up-and-coming teams around them looking to challenge for the title. 

In total, 24 teams will take part in the tournament, which will run until Jan. 18 when the final takes place at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco. It expanded to that number in 2019 after previously being a 16-team tournament since 1996. With the tournament taking place during the season for most major European teams, sides around the world will need to cope without their stars during the group stage but with winter breaks 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 a whopping six players absent for the tournament.

The 2027 edition of the tournament will take place during the summer to avoid this issue, but with the Club World Cup in 2029, AFCON will again be in the winter due to fitting it within a constrained global soccer calendar. Here’s what to know about this year’s tournament:

Tournament format

While Morocco’s spot was automatic due to hosting the tournament, the other 23 teams had to advance via a qualification tournament, which is why a team like Cabo Verde that will be going to the World Cup won’t be going to AFCON due to finishing at the bottom of their qualification group. Ghana are in a similar situation after failing to qualify for the first time since 2004, but will be representing 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. If it comes down to ties on points, the following tiebreakers are applied in order:

1. Points in head-to-head matches between tied teams
2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches among tied teams
3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches against tied teams
4. If more than two teams are tied on everything above, then it goes to goal difference in all group stage matches, and goals scored in all group matches
5. Drawing of lots

Key players at AFCON

Mohamed Salah may be leading the way with star power going to AFCON, as the Liverpool man will be departing to represent Egypt. It’s still unknown if he will continue to be a Liverpool player once he returns with the transfer window being open following 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 at AFCON, organized by the league that they’re representing

• Premier 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)
• Ligue One: 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)
• Serie A: Ademola Lookman (Atalanta/Nigeria)
• Turkish Super Lig: Victor Osimhen (Galatasaray/Nigeria)

AFCON standings

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

How to watch AFCON

You can watch every game from the tournament live on Fubo (try for free).

AFCON Schedule

Group Stage
All times Eastern

Dec. 21

• Morocco vs. Comoros, 2 p.m.

Dec. 22

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

Dec. 23

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

Dec. 24

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

Dec. 26

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

Dec. 27

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

Dec. 28

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

Dec. 29

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

Dec. 30

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

Dec. 31

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

Knockout stage

• Round of 16: Jan. 3-6
• Quaterfinals: Jan 9-10
• Semifinals: Jan. 13
• Third place match: Jan. 17
• Final: Jan. 18