Morocco hosts the Africa Cup of Nations » 6 cities, 24 teams, many stars and a Romanian present

The second final tournament that Morocco will organize, after the 1988 edition (it was supposed to host in 2015, but the competition was withdrawn due to the Ebola virus), it will be contested for the first time in the period before Christmas and will also extend into the New Year (December 21 – January 18).

No Romanian television has bought the rights to broadcast matches from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

The first CAN edition starting in December and the second in Morocco

The change in the calendar was caused by the summer scheduling of the Club World Championship expanded by FIFA to 32 teams, but also by the fact that The Champions League plays its final two single group stages at the end of Januarywhen CAN usually took place.

CAN 2025 will play its matches in nine stadiums in six cities:

• AGADIR – Adrar Stadium (45,000 seats);

• CASABLANCA – Stade Mohammed V (45,000 seats);

• FEZ – Fez Stadium (45,000 seats);

• MARRAKESH – Marrakesh Stadium (45,000 seats);

• DISCOUNT – Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium (66,700 seats);

• Moulay Hassan Stadium (22,000 seats);

• Rabat Olympic Stadium (21,000 seats);

• Al Medina Stadium (18,000 seats);

• TANGER – Tangier Grand Stadium (pictured, 75,600 seats).

The 24 national teams qualified for this edition of the Africa Cup of Nations are divided into six groups of four. The top two from each group, along with the best four teams in 3rd place, qualify[fortheroundof16[înoptimiledefinală

GROUP A
Morocco
Mali
Zambia
TREASURES

GROUP B
Egypt
South Africa
Angola
Zimbabwe

GROUP C
Nigeria
Tunisia
Uganda
Tanzania

GROUP D
Senegal
DR Congo
Benin
Botswana

GROUP E
Algeria
Burkina Faso
Equatorial Guinea
Sudan

GROUP F
Cote d'Ivoire
Cameroon
Gabon
MOZAMBIQUE

CAN '25 stars: Salah, Hakimi, Osimhen, Mahrez, Mbeumo

The competition that starts today also puts in the world's showcase a series of stars that will increase the football level of CAN 2025. GSP.ro has chosen ten names that can be followed every weekend in the top European championships.

There will be no shortage of players from the European champions, the Premier League champions, Manchester United and other football legends from the Black Continent.

Mohamed Salah gave an assist in Liverpool – Brighton/ photo Imago Images

Mohamed Salah (Egypt, Liverpool)
Achraf Hakimi (Morocco, PSG)
Victor Osimhen (Nigeria, Galatasaray)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon, Marseille)
Riyad Mahrez (Algeria, Al-Ahli)
Sadio Mane (Senegal, Al-Nassr)
Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso, Leverkusen)
Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon, Manchester United)
Amad Diallo (Cote d'Ivoire, Manchester United)
Cedric Bakambu (DR Congo, Betis)

Morocco has not played in the final since 2004 and is without a trophy since 1976

Morocco starts this competition as favorites and also dreams of ending a half-century wait since the first and last triumph!

49of players present at CAN 2025 in Morocco come from Ligue 1 clubs, most from Europe's Top 5 championships. Followed by Premier League (32), Serie A (21), Bundesliga (17) and La Liga (16)

In the past 17 months, national teams have won bronze at the Paris Olympics, the U20 World Cup and recently the Arab Cup. All successes under coach Tarik Sektioui, with the exception of the Youth World Cup won by Mohamed Ouahbi.

From tomorrow, it's the turn of Walid Regragui, the coach who achieved the fourth-place performance with Morocco at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The challenge is to win the Africa Cup of Nations, with the Atlas Lions' last final being played in 2004, and the only success dates precisely from 1976, then with a Romanian on the technical bench, Virgil Mărdărescu, the only Romanian to win a continental trophy with a national team.

7 players from the Superliga and a Romanian coach are at CAN

The Superliga sent seven players to the competition on the African continent, and FCSB is the team with the most representatives, three in number.

Five Super League teams have players at the Africa Cup of Nations from Morocco. These are FCSB, Dinamo, Petrolul, U Cluj and FC Argeș. The Superliga champion has the most representatives, three in number.

• FCSB
  Siyabonga Ngezana – South Africa
  David Kiki – Benin
  Baba Alhassan – Uganda

• DINAMO BUCHAREST
  Devis Epassy – Cameroon

• OIL IS RAINING
  Yohan Roche – Benin

• CLUJ UNIVERSITY
  Elio Capradossi – Uganda

• FC ARGEȘ
  Esteban Orozco – Equatorial Guinea

Romania will be represented by a Romanian at the tournament in Africa. This is Mario Marinică, the Zimbabwe national team coach. This is not the first exotic adventure, because he was also on the bench of the national teams of Malawi and Liberia.

Morocco second in the world after South Korea in terms of investments in roads, railways and the electricity grid!

The enthusiasm of the Moroccan fans is at its highest. The government saw sport as an opportunity to improve its image and close significant deals, looking south and opening up to Africa, and spent lavishly.

Thus, in the last 15 years, Morocco has become the second country in the world after South Korea in terms of investments made in roads, railways and the electricity grid.

And football was equally supported, as evidenced by the fact that Morocco won the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Spain.

7titles of Africa has Egypt. It is followed by Cameroon (5), Ghana (4), Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire (3), Algeria and DR Congo (2), Zambia, Tunisia, Sudan, Senegal, South Africa, Ethiopia, Morocco and Congo, one each

Moreover, it competes on an equal footing with the two European countries, so much so that the huge stadium under construction in Casablanca (115,000 seats) battles the Bernabéu for the final of the tournamentthe new Spotify Camp Nou being already outdated.