Photo caption: Super Eagles of Nigeria
Three-time African champions Nigeria were handed a tricky draw for the group stages of the 2025 AFCON tournament in Morocco, lining up in Group C with Tunisia as well as two of the co-hosts of the 2027 edition; Uganda and Tanzania.
The draw was held in the North African country on Monday for the tournament which will be played from December 21 to January 18, 2026.
Nigeria are the most successful team in the group, having won the tournament three times and going for their 21st appearance in Morocco. Uganda will be competing in their eighth tournament while Tanzania have only featured three times.
Tunisia, the most familiar of the opponents, who dumped Nigeria out in the round of 16 of the 2021 tournament in Cameroon have won the tournament once – on home soil in 2024 – in their 21 appearances at the continental showpiece.
Nigeria head into the 2025 tournament as record medal holders in the competition’s 68-year history with 16 medals in 20 appearances, including three titles (1980, 1994, 2013), five runner-up finishes (1984, 1988, 1990, 2000 and 2023) and eight bronze medals.
The Super Eagles lost the 2023 final 2-1 against hosts Ivory Coast.
Hosts Morocco will play in Group A against Mali, Zambia and Comoros. Seven-time champions Egypt are in Group B along with South Africa, Angola and Zimbabwe. Group D has Senegal, DR Congo, Benin and Botswana while Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea and Sudan make up Group E. Defending champions Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon and Mozambique are in Group F.
Meanwhile, CAF and the Moroccan Football Federation have announced six cities and nine stadiums that will host matches in the competition.
They are Rabat, Casablanca, Agadir, Marrakech, Fes and Tangier.
The capital Rabat is home to four stadiums; Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah (69,500), Stade Al Barid (18,000), Stade Olympique Annexe Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah (21,000) and the Complexe Sportif Prince Héritier Moulay EL Hassan (22,000).
Other stadiums are; the 45,000-capacity Complexe Sportif Mohammed V in Casablanca, Grand Stade d’Agadir (41,144), Grand Stade de Marrakech (41,245), Complexe Sportif de Fès (35,468) and the largest stadium, the 75,000-capacity Grand Stade de Tanger.
