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The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations runs from 21 December of this year until 18 January 2026 and today sees the draw to determine who plays who in the group stage.
With qualification having taken place throughout 2024, a total of 23 teams, plus hosts Morocco, have qualified to play at the 35th edition of Afcon, which will be taking place in the north African country for the first time since 1988.
Ivory Coast are the defending champions after they memorably sacked coach Jean-Louis Gasset mid-tournament in 2023, switching to Emerse Fae when Gasset had led them through the group stage.
Under Fae, the Elephants beat defending champions Senegal on penalties in the last 16, downed Mali after extra-time in the quarter-finals and then bested DR Congo in the semi-finals. That set up a final against Nigeria, which they won 2-1 thanks to second-half goals from Franck Kessie and Sebastian Haller to claim the Afcon crown for the first time since 2015.
Here’s everything you need to know about today’s draw:
When is the Afcon 2025 draw?
The draw for Afcon 2025 takes place in the Mohammed V National Theatre in Rabat, Morocco on 27 January at 6pm GMT (7pm local time).
How can I watch it?
The draw will be shown in the UK on streaming service DAZN, where you can register for free to watch the draw or purchase a full subscription to DAZN’s content here, with plans starting at £14.99 a month. A full list of broadcasters around the world is available here.
Which teams are in the draw?
There will be four pots of six teams with one side from each pot drawn into every group. Morocco were put into pot 1 as hosts, as were reigning champions Ivory Coast, with the other 22 qualifiers then placed in pots 1-4 according to their Fifa world ranking as of 19 December 2024.
The full list of pots is as follows:
Pot 1: Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire
Pot 2: Cameroon, Mali, Tunisia, South Africa, DR Congo, Burkina Faso
Pot 3: Gabon, Angola, Zambia, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Benin
Pot 4: Mozambique, Comoros, Tanzania, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Botswana
How will the draw work?
Hosts Morocco will be drawn first from pot 1 and will be placed as the first team in Group A. The teams from pot 4 will then randomly drawn one by one and sequentially placed from Group A to Group F.
Once all the teams from pot 4 have been drawn, the teams in pot 3 will be similarly placed sequentially from Group A to Group F, then pot 2 likewise before the remaining five teams in pot 1 (with Morocco already heading Group A) will be drawn sequentially from Group B to Group F.
The top two teams in each pool, as well as the four best third-placed teams, will qualify for the round of 16 at Afcon 2025.
When is Afcon 2025?
The tournament has been brought forward from its normal January slot to begin before Christmas this year, with the first match taking place on 21 December 2025 and the tournament then running until the final on 18 January 2026.
