The 2025 African Cup of Nations (Afcon) – hosted by Morocco – will mark only the sixth time in the competition’s 35 editions that the semifinals will feature only teams from North and West Africa.
The other five occurrences were in 1980, 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2019. Out of those five occurrences, only in 1980 did a West African team go on to win the title, when Nigeria became African champions for the first time. The other four were won by Tunisia (as hosts), Egypt (as hosts), Egypt, and Algeria, respectively.
Interestingly, the 2025 Afcon will be the fourth time out of those six occurrences that the Afcon semifinals will feature two North African teams and two teams from West Africa. That previously happened in 2004, 2010, and 2019.
At the 1980 Afcon, three of the semifinalists were from North Africa – Algeria, Egypt, and Morocco.
In 2006, Egypt was the only North African team in the last four pairings that also featured Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Senegal.
The 2025 Afcon will see semifinal meetings between North and West African teams increase to 17. History favours Egypt and Morocco to prevail over Senegal and Nigeria, respectively on Wednesday, when the Afcon 2025 semifinals will be played.
North African teams have won eight of their last nine meetings against West African teams at Afcon semifinals. Overall, they have claimed nine victories in those 15 previous meetings, including two on penalties.
Egypt, in particular, has emerged victorious in four of their five semifinals against West African teams. Their only failure was in 1984 when Nigeria defeated them 8-7 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
Morocco defeated Mali 4-0 in the semifinals of 2004 Afcon. Their meeting against Nigeria at 2025 Afcon will mark their second semifinal meeting against a West African at Afcon.
Africa Cup of Nations' 68-year tournament history.
Photo credit: Eliud Maumo | Nation Media Group
Nigeria, who have reached a record 17 Afcon semifinals, will be playing a North African team in the final four for the sixth time. They lost their last two such encounters – 2-1 against Algeria in 2019 and 5-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Tunisia in 2004. Their first three had yielded victories, including two on penalties against Egypt (in 1984) and Algeria (in 1990).
Senegal have been overwhelmed twice at this stage by North Africans teams, losing 2-1 in 1990 and 2006 to tournament hosts Algeria and Egypt respectively. In 2019, they claimed a 1-0 win over Tunisia but went on to lose by the same score to Algeria in the final.
The 2025 Afcon semifinals (Morocco vs Nigeria, and Senegal vs Egypt) set up a fierce battle for supremacy between Unaf and Wafu regions who have won 11 Afcon titles apiece.
Overall, the two regions have contested 34 of the competition’s 35 finals. The 1974 Afcon final – contested between Zaire (now DR Congo) and Zambia – is the only one not to feature a North or West African team. Afcon 1974 is also the last time and only time in the tournament’s history that a West African team failed to reach the last four of the competition since their debut in 1963.
A further show of their dominance of Afcon is exhibited by the fact that West African teams (affiliated to the West Africa Football Union – Wafu) brag the most semifinal appearances with 54, followed by North Africans (affiliates of Union of North African Football – Unaf) with 33.
Wafu’s 54 appearances are spread among six of its 15 members – Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal.
Five of Unaf’s six members – Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia – have featured in at least one Afcon semifinal as well as played in a final. Mauritania, who joined the region in December 2025, is yet to reach an Afcon semifinal.
Excluding Unaf, the six Wafu teams listed above have reached more Afcon semifinals than the three other zones of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) combined (35).
These three other zones are the Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa), the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa), and Central African Football Federations’ Union (Uniffac). These regions have piled six, 10, and 19 Afcon semifinal appearances respectively.
Cecafa, with 11 members, have not appeared in an Afcon semifinal since 1978 when Uganda lost 2-0 to Ghana in the final. The other Cecafa teams to have reached an Afcon semifinal are Ethiopia (thrice) and Sudan (twice). However, Ethiopia’s first two semifinal appearances and Sudan’s first came when the Afcon featured three or four teams.
Uniffac, on their part, owe their best performances to Cameroon (10) and DR Congo (6), who have reached 16 of their 19 semifinals. Congo (1972 and 1974) and Equatorial Guinea (2015) are their other semifinalists.
Cosafa’s record at Afcon has also been propped by two teams – South Africa and Zambia. The two account for the region’s 10 appearances at Afcon semifinals.
