African football in 2025
Five reasons to start watching football on the continent in the next year.
Will Al Ahly win the Champions League again? Are any African clubs going to make a splash at the new Club World Cup? Will Morocco triumph in 2025 where it has fallen short before as it hosts both the WAFCON and AFCON? 2025 has so many questions in store for African football and might just be the best year in African football for decades.
CAF Champions League
With the Club World Cup on the horizon and the African Football League stalling, The CAF Champions League has shown its resilience and appeal in 2024 and will have more eyes on it than ever before in 2025.
The real question is, can anyone stop Al Ahly? The Red Devils from Cairo have shown an unprecedented level of dominance on the continent in the last five years. They have won four of the previous five Champions Leagues, only losing in 2022 in tremendously controversial circumstances when they played a single legged final in Casablanca against Walid Regragui’s Wydad.
After smashing CR Belouizdad 6-1 in their final Champions League game of 2024 and with Wydad not even qualifying for the tournament and Mamelodi Sundowns not looking like the same imperious side since Rhulani Mokwena left in the summer, they are perhaps more odds on to win the tournament than ever before.
And yet, there are a handful of teams that seem to be filling the gap left by Wydad that could surprise. The only team with a perfect record after three games is homeless Al Hilal Omdurman who, under Florent Ibenge have one of the best coaches in African football leading a team backed by a nation desperate for footballing success. Elsewhere, Morocco’s ASFAR Rabat, after winning the Botola Pro in 2023 and coming second in 2024, are topping the group of death including Raja Casablanca and Sundowns. And the only team to have stopped Al Ahly winning in the Champions League this season, Orlando Pirates, will fancy themselves to make a deep run in the tournament. The Buccaneers have been a team reborn since Jose Riveiro took charge. The Spaniard has led the team to back-to-back runner up finishes in the PSL but it is his team’s cup performances that will give fans hope of a first Champions League win since 1995.
Extra bonus for those watching the Champions League because round four is this weekend!
African Nations Championship (CHAN)
As per current CAF rules, the 2024 African Nations Championship will be taking place a year late and will serve as an early test of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda’s tournament hosting capabilities ahead of the 2027 AFCON.
The most unique of Africa’s major tournaments, the CHAN is essentially the AFCON but only players playing in their national leagues can participate. While not all countries with strong domestic leagues take it seriously (looking at you Egypt and South Africa!), it is the place where many of Africa’s top domestic talent are scouted and make the move to bigger teams and leagues in Africa and beyond. Notable alumni of the CHAN include Yves Bissouma who stared for Mali in 2016, Jamel El Yamiq, Nayef Aguerd and Achraf Dari who all played key roles for the Moroccan side that reached the World Cup semi final after winning back-to-back CHANs. The last edition was dominated by Senegal’s Lamine Camara who followed it up with two goals for the Teranga Lions at the AFCON last year and has made the move to high flying Monaco.
It is by far the nichest of tournaments on this list but if you want to discover the next talents coming from Africa then cast your eyes to East Africa for the month of February.
Club World Cup
The biggest question mark in world football this year is without a doubt over the Club World Cup. But while the European football aristocracy turn their noses up at the tournament, African football cannot wait. The Club World Cup has always held a special place in the hearts of fans of Africa’s top clubs and do not be surprised if the best supported team at the Club World Cup is Al Ahly (after all they’ve made more appearances at the competition than any other club).
It's a bit of a shame that the Club World Cup didn’t take place a couple of seasons ago (which perhaps points to the flawed nature of qualifying) because Wydad are a shadow of themselves and there isn’t enough time for Rhulani Mokwena to turn it around before the tournament. With Mokwena leaving Sundowns, there are big questions around the Pretorian club. They’re still atop of the PSL, just, but gone is the imperious aura around the club. Even Espérance aren’t the same team they were a few years ago when they had the likes of Youcef Belaïli, Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane and Taha Khenissi.
Only Al Ahly seem to be at the peak of their strength going into the tournament, as demonstrated in their 0-0 draw against Pachuca a couple weeks ago at the Intercontinental Cup. Despite losing the game on penalties, Marcell Koller’s side were by far the better team and will come into the tournament as the team with the most intercontinental experience. They also are perhaps in the most balanced group at the tournament, along with Porto, Palmeiras and Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
WAFCON
The summer of African football doesn’t end with the Club World Cup, overlapping with the tournament is the hotly anticipated Women’s Africa Cup of Nations which promises to be the greatest edition of the tournament.
For the first time in women’s football history, Africa has four nations that can mix it with any team on the planet and are stacked with genuine world beaters. With Barbra Banda and co. tearing it up in the NWSL and African players leading the way across Europe and North America, it is going to be an amazing spectacle. Throw into the mix a resurgent Ghana side (though potentially without their transformative coach Nora Hauptle who has made the move south to Zambia) and what you’ve got is one of the most competitive tournaments in world football.
AFCON
Christmas in Casablanca? Yes please!
To top off 2025 we get the return of football’s best tournament. The Africa Cup of Nations. While Morocco 2025 (barely) is unlikely to top the on-field drama of Côte d'Ivoire 2023, it promises to deliver another stellar tournament. We’re still pretty much a year away from the tournament kicking off but it’s already building up to be a brilliant tournament. Salah in the best form of his life leading Egypt, Senegal evolving into a new beast, Morocco being one of the most intimidating hosts on the continent, there is no shortage of top African teams. Throw into the mix all those teams that could surprise in both terrible and amazing ways and you have nearly guaranteed spectacle after spectacle.
2025, bring it on!