There have been few surprises at the 35th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) so far, with all of the pre-tournament favourites sailing comfortably through to the knockout stage.
Of the 32 Premier League players who travelled to Morocco for the tournament, only one has been eliminated: Zimbabwe’s Tawanda Chirewa, who has made a single appearance for Wolverhampton Wanderers this season.
Who's progressed and who’s coming home?
Group winners: Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Algeria, Ivory Coast
Runners-up: Mali, South Africa, Tunisia, DR Congo, Burkina Faso, Cameroon
Best third-place teams: Mozambique, Benin, Sudan, Tanzania
Eliminated: Angola, Comoros, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Botswana, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon
What are the knockout stage matches?
It’s a quick turnaround for the knockout stages - the Round of 16 begins on 3 January, with two games being played on each day up to and including 6 January.
3 January: Senegal v Sudan, Mali v Tunisia
4 January: Morocco v Tanzania, South Africa v Cameroon
5 January: Egypt v Benin, Nigeria v Mozambique
6 January: Algeria v DR Congo, Ivory Coast v Burkina Faso
Mali versus Tunisia will see Tottenham Hotspur's Yves Bissouma up against Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri.
South Africa’s match-up against Cameroon pits Burnley’s Lyle Foster against Manchester United’s Bryan Mbeumo and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Carlos Baleba.
When Nigeria face Mozambique on 5 January, Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, and Samuel Chukwueze (all Fulham) will meet up with Sunderland full-back Reinildo Mandava.
As many as five Premier League players could be involved when Algeria play against DR Congo on 6 January, with Rayan Ait-Nouri (Manchester City) matched up against Aaron Wan-Bissaka (West Ham United), Axel Tuanzebe (Burnley), Arthur Masuaku and Noah Sadiki (both Sunderland), although Masuaku could miss the game due to a minor ankle sprain.
Ivory Coast versus Burkina Faso could see Amad (Man Utd), Emmanuel Agbadou (Wolves), Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly (both Nottingham Forest) up against Dango Outtara (Brentford) and Bertrand Traore (Sunderland).
The dates for the resulting knockout matches are as follows.
Quarter-finals: 9-10 January
Semi-finals: 14 January
Third-place play-off: 17 January
Final: 18 January
What we’ve spotted so far at AFCON 2025
Salah and Marmoush on target for Egypt
There was plenty of drama for Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush for Egypt. Both were on target when Egypt came from behind to defeat Zimbabwe in their opening game, including a stoppage-time winner from Salah to complete the turnaround.
Salah scored the winning goal again, this time from the penalty spot, when they defeated South Africa in their second game despite playing the entirety of the second half with 10 men; Marmoush was sacrificed at half-time as a result.
Salah (65) is now four goals away from tying Hossam Hassan (69) as Egypt’s all-time top scorer.
Amad stars for Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast have a squad full of promising stars, but it was Amad who took the limelight with two Player of the Match performances against Mozambique and Cameroon, scoring his team’s only goal in both games, including a stunner in the latter match when facing off against Man Utd team-mate Mbeumo.
Lyle Foster joint-top for goal involvements
Burnley forward Foster has been one of the players of the tournament so far, registering two goals and two assists; his four goal involvements are the joint-most of any player, along with Ademola Lookman, formerly of Everton, Fulham and Leicester City.
Foster is South Africa’s greatest chance at success in this tournament, but he will have a job on his hands when they meet up with a talented Cameroon team in the Round of 16.
Yves Bissouma and Alex Song link up
There was a meeting of Premier League past and present when Bissouma posed for a picture with retired Cameroonian midfielder Alex Song. There was no hint of rivalry between the current Spurs midfielder and Song, who featured in 138 league matches for Arsenal, as well as enjoying two loan spells with West Ham.
Fulham trio flying high for Super Eagles
Fulham’s Iwobi, Bassey and Chukwueze have all been important in different roles for Nigeria, who won all three of their group stage matches.
Iwobi assisted both of Nigeria’s goals when they defeated Tanzania in their opening game, while Chukwueze assisted team-mate Raphael Onyedika twice in the space of five minutes in their win against Uganda.
Bassey, meanwhile, was the only defender to start all of the Super Eagles’ group games.
Hannibal Mejbri a driving force for Tunisia
Mejbri has had a difficult season so far at club level for Burnley, but the former Man Utd academy star has showcased his class on the world stage with a trio of top performances for Tunisia.
The all-action midfielder registered an assist in each of their first two games, against Uganda and Nigeria, and a mixture of trickery and defensive work rate places him joint-third among all players for total ground duels won, with 21.
Host of Premier League stars progress with Senegal
Senegal have six Premier League players among their squad at AFCON, the most of any team at the tournament: El Hadji Malik Diouf (West Ham), Habib Diarra (Sunderland), Idrissa Gana Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye (both Everton), Pape Matar Sarr (Spurs) and Ismaila Sarr (Crystal Palace).
Gueye has been the pick of the bunch so far, with his 215 successful passes the most of any player at the tournament.
Their club sides could be without their services for a while longer yet, as the Lions will meet Sudan in the Round of 16, a fixture for which they are heavily favoured. Victory would set up an encounter between either Mali or Tunisia in the quarter-finals.