The schedule for the 2025 Africa Cup is – with games on Christmas Eve and a day off on Christmas Day. The appointment is the result of the narrow game plan.
Where and when will be played?
The 35th Africa Cup will be held in Morocco from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026. After 1988, the North African country hosts the tournament for the second time, which is usually held every two years in January. The defending champion is the Ivory Coast, which triumphed in his own country in January 2024.
Why over Christmas?
The appointment is the result of an ever denser international game plan. In the past, the appointment in January increasingly collided with the club interests, the leagues of which are in high operation in those days and weeks.
Now we play over Christmas and the turn of the year. The most important dates:
- December 21: Opening game between host Morocco and the Comores
- December 24: Christmas Eve takes place. Especially in the south of the continent there are countries in which many people live in Christian faith. With equatorial guinea, gabun or Mozambique, several teams of such countries are in action on Christmas Eve.
- December 25: All teams are free on Christmas Day.
- December 31: Four games take place on New Year’s Eve.
- 1st and January 2: Before the Ko round there are two days off.
- January 18: Final in Rabat
However, the alternative date in the summer months – 2019 in Egypt was played in June/July – has not proven itself and is also history again because of the time of the new club World Cup.
When will the players arrive?
The parking of players from their clubs to the national teams is a huge topic before every Africa Cup. Usually the FIFA rules stipulate that there is an obligation to pay eight days before the start of the tournament.
In 2025, however, the tournament will take place outside of the national team dates defined by FIFA. A regulation, as is then done, still has to be determined.
In the past, regardless of the official departure period, there have been numerous special agreements between players, associations and associations that agreed on a shorter positioning phase. Most recently happened at Kamerun’s goalkeeper Andre Onana, the first Africa-Cup game another match for 24 hours before camera. Manchester United and then flown to the Ivory Coast by private jet.
Who is favored?
A great charm of the Africa cup is its unpredictability. There are great surprises at every issue of the tournament – seven different winners celebrated in the recent eight editions.
In 2024 the Ivory Coast celebrated
Nevertheless, Morocco is the highest bet of all experts. The kingdom team is not only host, it is also the highly torn African team with 14th place in the FIFA world rankings. The “Löwen vom Atlas” have developed enormously in recent years, especially the 4th place at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar caused a lot of sensation.
Despite the host role, Morocco took part in the qualification games and finished with six wins in six games and a goal difference of 26: 2.
As the greatest competitor, the current Africa runner-up Nigeria, who failed in the Ivory Coast in the final at the host and has the recently chosen African footballer of the year, has Ademola Lookman in his ranks.
Were there surprises in the qualification?
Basically, all major teams have become more or less confident. With one exception: Ghana will not be there. The team of the German-Ghanaers Otto Addo sensationally failed on Sudan, who managed to qualify, even though the country is in the middle of the civil war.
Surprisingly, the qualifications of the Komoren and Botswanas were surprisingly. And Benin is there again. As a trainer, the German-French Gernot Gernot Rohr once again did an excellent job and will lead the little Benin from West Africa to the cup after various African teams.
Habib Diallo and Senegal are already qualified.
In which stadiums is played?
Morocco is probably the country of Africa, which has the best stadium infrastructure. It is played in nine different stages. The 1988 final took place in the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, this time the opening game and the final are planned in Rabat in the Prince-Moulay Stadium.
Further games also take place in three other stadiums in Rabat and in Casablanca, in Fes, in Tangier, in Marrakech and Agadir. On the eastern outskirts of Casablanca, an arena for 115,000 spectators is being built with regard to the 2030 World Cup. However, it will not be finished at the end of 2025. In addition to Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, Morocco is one of the hosts of the 2030 World Cup.
The Grand Stade Hassan II in Casablanca is said to have a capacity of 115,000 places
In what format is the tournament played?
The format in Morocco remains the same as for the past three tournaments. The 24 teams are drawn in six groups of four.
The first two places of each group and the four best -placed third -placed thirds qualify for the round of 16. From this point on, the competition will be held in the knockout system.
Before the draw, which takes place in Rabat on January 27, the countries will be divided into one of four pots according to their position in the FIFA world rankings.
Qualified teams
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Komoren, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Mali, Morocco (host), Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisa, Uganda, Sambia, Zimbabwe.