The stage is set for an exciting knockout phase at the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025, as the Round of 16 fixtures have been officially confirmed, following the conclusion of an action-packed group stage across all six groups.<\/p>\n
At the end of the group phase, the top two teams from each of the six groups booked automatic qualification to the Round of 16, with the final four slots decided by the best third-placed teams, in line with the tournament format introduced since AFCON expanded to 24 teams.<\/p>\n
Hosts Morocco finished top of Group A with seven points, while Mali progressed as runners-up. Although Comoros finished third in the group, their two points and inferior overall ranking meant they narrowly missed out on qualification, underlining how tight the margins were across the groups.<\/p>\n
In Group B, seven-time champions Egypt led the standings ahead of South Africa, while Angola, despite finishing third, did not accumulate enough points to rank among the best four third-placed sides. Zimbabwe exited the competition after finishing bottom of the group.<\/p>\n
Group C saw Nigeria deliver one of the most dominant group-stage performances in recent AFCON history, winning all three matches to finish with a perfect nine points. Tunisia followed in second place, while Tanzania finished third and Uganda ended their campaign in fourth position. Despite having the same number of points as other third-placed teams elsewhere, Tanzania advanced on the goals scored tie-breaker, a decisive factor that ultimately kept their AFCON dream alive.<\/p>\n
In Group D, Senegal and DR Congo both ended with seven points, with Senegal topping the group on goal difference. Benin, who finished third, secured one of the four best third-placed slots thanks to their superior overall record, while Botswana exited the tournament without a point.<\/p>\n
Group E was dominated by Algeria, who won all three matches to underline their status as former champions. Burkina Faso followed in second place, while Sudan, finishing third, accumulated enough points to progress as one of the best third-placed teams.<\/p>\n
In Group F, defending champions C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire and five-time winners Cameroon both finished on seven points to advance automatically, while Mozambique, despite finishing third, completed the list of best third-placed teams to qualify for the Round of 16.<\/p>\n
The Round of 16 action begins on January 3, with Senegal facing Sudan and Mali taking on Tunisia. On January 4, hosts Morocco meet Tanzania, while South Africa clash with Cameroon. The knockout matches continue on January 5, as Egypt face Benin and Nigeria square off against Mozambique, before the final Round of 16 fixtures on January 6, which see Algeria battle DR Congo and C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire take on Burkina Faso.<\/p>\n
With the group stage now behind them, the tournament moves into its most unforgiving phase, where every mistake could be decisive. As Morocco provides the stage for the knockout rounds, past champions, continental heavyweights, and ambitious challengers will all be chasing a place in the quarterfinals and a step closer to African football\u2019s ultimate prize.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The stage is set for an exciting knockout phase at the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025, as the Round of 16 fixtures have been officially confirmed, following the conclusion of an action-packed group stage across all six groups. At the end of the group phase, the top two teams from each of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":45093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17026],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45092","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afcon-2025"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saharafootball.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/FB_IMG_1767229515113.jpg?fit=2048%2C1152&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8jzHl-bJi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45023,"url":"https:\/\/www.saharafootball.net\/afcon-2025-matchday-1-results-and-standings-full-round-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":45092,"position":0},"title":"AFCON 2025 Matchday 1 Results and Standings: Full Round-Up","author":"Fortune Adza","date":"December 25, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations got off to an exciting start on Sunday, December 21, with Matchday One delivering goals, late drama and early group-shaping results across all six groups, as hosts Morocco set the tone in the tournament opener. 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