FAQ
The 35th Africa Cup of Nations will be held in Morocco from December 21st. Who is favorite? Which Bundesliga players are there? And what is the mode like anyway?
When and where will the Africa Cup take place?
Morocco will host the event from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026. It is the second time since 1988 that the North Africans are hosting the tournament. Guinea was originally awarded the tournament. However, due to a lack of infrastructure, Africa’s football association Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) withdrew its hosting from Guinea. This is particularly bitter for Serhou Guirassy from Borussia Dortmund because Guinea also missed out on qualifying, so the striker is staying at home. The date was also originally different: due to conflicts with the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, the CAF switched from summer 2025 to winter.
Which stars are there?
Extremely many! From (still) Liverpool star Mohamed Salah, who will start for Egypt together with Manchester City’s Omar Marmoush, to Manchester United’s Cameroonian Bryan Mbeumo or the Senegalese Ismaila Sarr, who is in the offensive at Crystal Palace, the Premier League alone is already sending various top players. Nigeria, which lost to Ivory Coast in the final two years ago, also has two real international stars in its ranks in Galatasaray’s Victor Osimhen and Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman.
Defending champion Ivory Coast, which will face the DFB team in the preliminary round of the World Cup, includes Manchester United’s Amad Diallo, ex-Bundesliga players Evan Ndicka (AS Roma) and Odilon Kossounou (Atalanta), as well as the two top talents Yan Diomande (RB Leipzig) and Hoffenheim’s Bazoumana Touré. Hosts Morocco are particularly excited about Achraf Hakimi. The newly crowned African Footballer of the Year is still rehabilitating from an ankle injury sustained in the Champions League game against Bayern Munich, but hopes to be fit for action in the opening game against Comoros.
Which Bundesliga player are at the Africa Cup of Nations?
In addition to Yan Diomande (Leipzig) and Bazoumana Touré (Hoffenheim) from Ivory Coast, Bayern Munich’s Nicolas Jackson (Senegal) is also expected to travel to the tournament. Algeria will probably start with Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini and Leverkusen’s Ibrahim Maza. Leverkusen could be hit particularly hard: In addition to Maza, Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso), Christian Kofane (Cameroon) and Eliesse Ben Seghir (Morocco) could also be missing for up to four Bundesliga games.
Stuttgart’s Bilal El Kannouss (Morocco), Frankfurt’s Fares Chaibi (Algeria and Ellyes Skhiri (Tunisia) and Freiburg’s Cyrique Irié (Morocco) are also traveling to Morocco. VfL Wolfsburg has to ask themselves who can replace the Algerian striker Mohamed Amoura for so long, St. Pauli has to look for a replacement for Andreas Hountondji (Benin) and FC Augsburg has Elias Saad, Ismael Gharbi (Tunisia) and Samuel Essende (DR Congo) started the trip.
When will the clubs start missing players?
In the Bundesliga, the teams have to do without the players after the 14th matchday, i.e. the weekend from December 12th to 14th. The 18th matchday of the Bundesliga falls on the final weekend of the Africa Cup. So if a nation goes far, the corresponding players, for example Yan Diomande from Ivory Coast, are missing for four match days and only return for the 19th match day (January 23rd to January 25th).
Who are the favorites?
The field of favorites at the Africa Cup is traditionally relatively broad – in the last seven editions, no nation was able to defend their title. There have been six different winners – only Ivory Coast has won twice during this period, in 2015 and 2024. The Ivorians are part of the big field of favorites alongside Nigeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco, which was the only country to march through the six qualifying games with six wins.
What is the mode?
Four teams in six groups compete in the preliminary round in the “everyone against everyone” mode. The group winners and runners-up advance to the round of 16, plus the four best third-place teams. From the round of 16 it goes “classically” through the quarter and semi-finals to the final and the game for third place. In the event of a draw, the game goes into extra time and, if necessary, a penalty shootout; in the game for third place, there is no extra time.
When are the games?
The earliest games start at 1:30 p.m. German time, there are also games that kick off at 4 p.m., 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m. or 9 p.m. German time at the latest. The knockout round begins on January 3rd.
Who will broadcast the Africa Cup of Nations games?
All games can be watched in streams via the provider “Sportdigital Fußball”, and the streaming service can also be received via the better-known provider “DAZN”.
Where are the stadiums?
Agadir, Fés, Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier and Rabat are the venues for the tournament. In Rabat, the game will be played in four different stadiums, including the final, which will be held in the 69,500-person Stade Moulay Abdallah.