The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is the main international men's association soccer competition in Africa. Organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), this tournament unites the best 24 national teams from across the continent.
Map of CAF member associations
Overview of AFCON
AFCON is more than just football. It is a festival of African culture, passion, and unity. This competition is Africa’s main men’s international tournament and has played center stage to the continent’s greatest players of all time, including Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Mohamed Aboutrika, Roger Milla, Jay-Jay Okocha, and others.
The Africa Cup of Nations 2025 (AFCON 2025) promises world-class football, passionate fans, and unforgettable moments. Fans can expect thrilling group-stage clashes, intense knockouts, and a grand finale in front of tens of thousands of spectators.
AFCON 2025 - All You Need To Know (Full Story)
AFCON 2025 Details
- Host Country: Morocco
- First Match: December 21, 2025
- Number of Teams: 24
Hosting and Qualification
The hosts receive automatic qualification while the other nations have to book their tickets through a qualifying stage. A total of 24 national teams qualified to play in the final tournament.
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Morocco, the host country, played in the qualifiers in Group B despite qualifying automatically. Tunisia qualified for the 22nd time and extended their record for consecutive participations, reaching the tournament for the 17th time in a row, having not been absent since 1994.
The following 24 teams qualified for this edition, all of them have previously participated in the tournament.
Format of the Tournament
The 24 participants are then drawn into six groups of four, with the two best-ranked teams in each group progressing to the round of 16. They are joined by the four best third-placed teams in the knockout stage.
The group stage kicks off on December 21, 2025, with Morocco vs Comoros in Rabat.
Schedule and Key Dates
- First match(es): 21 December 2025
- First match(es): 22 December 2025
- First match(es): 23 December 2025
- First match(es): 24 December 2025
- Draw Date: The draw was conducted on the 27th of January 2025 at the Mohammed V National Theatre in Rabat.
Venues
AFCON 2025 will be hosted across six Moroccan cities, featuring nine stadiums.
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Defending Champions
The Ivory Coast national team enters AFCON 2025 as the defending champions, having lifted the trophy in AFCON 2023.
Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying
Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification matches are organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the Africa Cup of Nations.
In the beginning, all 54 teams entered qualifying. However, the preliminary stage eliminated six teams. Plus, two teams that should have been in the group stage of qualifying are Kenya and Zimbabwe. Both sides do not appear on the Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying TV schedule due to FIFA suspensions as a result of political interference in the soccer administrations.
The remaining 46 teams compete in 12 groups of four. The top two teams after home-and-away games against the other three teams in their group qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. CAF drew Zimbabwe and Kenya into groups. Groups C and K only have three teams as a result of that suspension.
Ivory Coast, as the hosts, has automatic qualification into the competition. However, it is still part of qualifying in group H. Groups for the actual AFCON tournament are redrawn once the qualifying stages are complete.
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TV Schedule and Ratings in the USA
In the United States, select games during AFCON Qualifying are on beIN SPORTS. One way to get access to the Africa Cup of Nations Qualifying TV schedule is through fuboTV. Fubo carries beIN SPORTS. However, there are other ways to watch fuboTV. Those include things like Fanatiz or Vidgo.
These are just select games. Not each game from the wide range of contests from the Africa World Cup Qualifying phase are on a TV schedule that is easily accessible in the United States.
Africa Cup of Nations Daily Ratings
Demographic breakdown of the most recent historical ratings of Africa Cup of Nations on BeIN Sports as of Sunday, February 11, 2024.
| Date | Demo | Audience | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-Feb-11 | 2023 FINAL NIGERIA VS. IVORY COAST P2+ | 147,000 | 0.05 |
| 2024-Feb-11 | 2023 FINAL NIGERIA VS. IVORY COAST P18-49 | 79,100 | 0.06 |
| 2024-Feb-07 | 2023 SF NIGERIA VS. SOUTH AFRICA P2+ | 92,000 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Feb-07 | 2023 SF NIGERIA VS. SOUTH AFRICA P18-49 | 79,100 | 0.06 |
| 2024-Feb-03 | 2023 QF MALI VS. IVORY COAST P2+ | 102,000 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Feb-03 | 2023 QF MALI VS. IVORY COAST P18-49 | 65,900 | 0.05 |
| 2024-Feb-02 | 2023 QF NIGERIA VS. ANGOLA P2+ | 53,000 | 0.02 |
| 2024-Feb-02 | 2023 QF NIGERIA VS. ANGOLA P18-49 | 39,600 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Jan-30 | 2023 R16 MOROCCO VS. SOUTH AFRICA P2+ | 45,000 | 0.01 |
| 2024-Jan-30 | 2023 R16 MOROCCO VS. SOUTH AFRICA P18-49 | 39,600 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Jan-29 | 2023 R16 SENEGAL VS. IVORY COAST P2+ | 55,000 | 0.02 |
| 2024-Jan-29 | 2023 R16 SENEGAL VS. IVORY COAST P18-49 | 39,600 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Jan-28 | 2023 R16 EQUATORIAL GUINEA VS. GUINEA P2+ | 52,000 | 0.02 |
| 2024-Jan-28 | 2023 R16 EQUATORIAL GUINEA VS. GUINEA P18-49 | 39,600 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Jan-27 | 2023 R16 ANGOLA VS. NAMIBIA P2+ | 61,000 | 0.02 |
| 2024-Jan-27 | 2023 R16 ANGOLA VS. NAMIBIA P18-49 | 39,600 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Jan-21 | 2023 GS SOUTH AFRICA VS. NAMIBIA P2+ | 53,000 | 0.02 |
| 2024-Jan-21 | 2023 GS SOUTH AFRICA VS. NAMIBIA P18-49 | 39,600 | 0.03 |
| 2024-Jan-19 | 2023 GS SENEGAL VS. CAMEROON P2+ | 38,000 | 0.01 |
| 2024-Jan-19 | 2023 GS SENEGAL VS. CAMEROON P18-49 | 26,400 | 0.02 |
| 2024-Jan-18 | 2023 GS EGYPT VS. GHANA P2+ | 34,000 | 0.01 |
| 2024-Jan-18 | 2023 GS EGYPT VS. GHANA P18-49 | 26,400 | 0.02 |
| 2024-Jan-13 | 2023 GS IVORY COAST VS. - PROGRAMMING FOR EVERYONE |
Other Soccer Competitions on beIN Sports
- Ligue 1: Catch some of the world’s greatest players and most storied rivalries with France's top professional Men’s Soccer League.
- COPA LIBERTADORES: CONMEBOL's Copa Libertadores de América is the annual club soccer competition with South America's top clubs.
- CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Annual competition featuring the top clubs from Africa’s soccer leagues.
- CAF CONFEDERATION CUP: Running alongside the CAF Champions League, this is the second-tier competition of African club soccer.
- AFRICAN NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP (CHAN): The Championship is played between the best national teams of Africa, exclusively featuring players who are active in the national championships and qualified to play in the ongoing season.
- AFRICA FUTSAL CUP OF NATIONS: Total Africa Futsal Cup of Nations, or Total CAF Super Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the most important continental indoors men’s national teams competition of Futsal an held every four years.
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