Meet the south

Alaa Abdel-Ghani , Tuesday 28 Jan 2025

Record seven-time winner Egypt was placed with three southern African teams in the draw for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Cup of Nations

The draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), to be held in Morocco 2025, has put Egypt in Group B with last year’s bronze medalists South Africa, Angola and Zimbabwe.

The draw, which took place on Monday at the Mohammed V National Theatre in Rabat, provided the 24 teams with their group road maps.

Hosts Morocco in Group A, will take on Mali, Zambia and Comoros. Morocco is hosting the AFCON for the first time since 1988.
In Group C, Nigeria will lock horns with Tunisia and the East African duo of Uganda and Tanzania, who will be AFCON co-hosts in 2027.
The 2021 champions Senegal go up against Democratic Republic of Congo, Benin and Botswana in Group D.
Algeria, winners in 2019, take on Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea and Sudan in Group E.

And defending champions Cote d’Ivoire face old rivals and five-time winners Cameroon, Gabon and Mozambique in Group F as they look to claim back-to-back titles.

The teams were drawn into six groups each containing four sides ahead of the 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026 finals tournament that will be spread across six host cities and nine stadiums in Morocco.

The top two teams in each pool will advance to the round of 16, along with the four best third-placed sides.

Egypt’s biggest threat in its group comes from South Africa which ousted the Pharaohs from the round of 16 in the 2019 AFCON which Egypt hosted and which was a stunning early exit.

Egypt and South Africa have met five times in official matches, with the teams winning two games apiece and one draw.

Egypt starts its campaign in Africa’s most prestigious football tournament against Zimbabwe in Agadir. It then meets South Africa in the second round before concluding the group stage fixtures against Angola.

This year’s AFCON is a formidable challenge for Egypt’s coach Hossam Hassan since his appointment in February 2024. Having guided the country into the AFCON and is atop the qualifying standings for the 2026 World Cup, both in relatively weak groups, the AFCON of this year is a different kettle of fish.

“It is a strong group,” Hassan said. “All the African teams have progressed a lot as we have all seen recently. This edition will be very tough as there are formidable opponents. We have a strong team led by Mohamed Salah, one of the world’s best players, along with Omar Marmoush, Mustafa Mohamed, and Trezeguet. With all due respect to the other teams, our goal is to clinch the title,” Hassan, 58, said.

Not an easy task. Though Egypt has the most AFCON titles at seven, the last was in 2010. In last year’s AFCON, in February, Egypt did not win a game in the group stage, advancing on the strength of three draws. In the round of 16, DR Congo ousted it on penalties.

 

GROUP A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros

GROUP B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe

GROUP C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania

GROUP D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana

GROUP E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan

GROUP F: Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique

 


* A version of this article appears in print in the 30 January, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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