Insipid and Inspired: AFCON 2025 qualifiers

Three games that are must-watch in the upcoming international window

It’s September, which in footballing terms can only mean one thing, everyone’s least favourite two weeks, AKA the first international window of the season. The big leagues in Europe have just picked up momentum, the transfer window has just slammed shut (can it shut any other way?) and everyone is excited for their clubs to finally start putting together some coherent football. Instead, we trade that in for a week of meaningless games between disinterested European nations that are still thinking about the last Euros.

Fear not! South of the Mediterranean there are a host of fascinating ties that have the hopes of entire nations at stake. This weekend kicks off the first round of qualifiers for the 2025 AFCON taking place next Christmas in Morocco. With the qualifiers being condensed into three international windows from now until November there is no time for teams to get it wrong. With plenty of big teams in transition and smaller nations on the rise, there are sure to be some crackers, upsets and nonsense. Here are 3 picks for must watch viewing over the next couple weeks.

Nigeria vs Benin: 7 September 16:00 GMT

Nigeria are a bin-fire.

Having originally appointed José Peseiro ahead of the 2021 AFCON, the Portuguese head coach didn’t actually take charge of the team until May 2022 because of issues surrounding his contract. Interim head coach Augustine Eguavoen led the Super Eagles to a disappointing Round of 16 exit in Cameroon. After a lacklustre couple years in charge, Peseiro superbly led the Super Eagles to the final of the 2023 AFCON in January. Within a month he went from public enemy number one to becoming an honorary Nigerian.

With a talented squad led by one of the best strikers in world football in Victor Osihmen and Ballon d’Or nominated Ademola Lookman, Nigeria looked set to perhaps enter a period of sustained success. But this is Nigeria we’re talking about. The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) failed to re-sign Peseiro’s contract due to an apparent lack of funds. Instead, they appointed the former Super Eagle Finidi George to the post. But George resigned after a draw with South Africa and a loss against this weekend’s opponent Benin.

Two weeks ago, Nigeria were on the verge of signing former Sweden national coach Janne Andersson but he turned them down because he would not be able to take charge this window. As recently as last week it was then widely reported that former Stuttgart and Bayer Leverkusen coach Bruno Labbadia would take charge only for the deal to fall through at the last minute. With no one else left, Nigeria have once again turned to Augustine Eguavoen to lead them into the qualifiers.

And who is Nigeria’s first opponent in the qualifiers? It’s Benin, the team that beat them to send Finidi George packing, led by Gernot Rohr, the man who was sacked just months ahead of the 2021 AFCON which initially sent the Super Eagles down this chaotic path of managerial madness. Having already seriously dented Nigeria’s World Cup qualification hopes, Rohr could do it again in the AFCON qualifiers and heap the pressure on Eguavoen before they play the admittedly weaker Libya and Rwanda.

Cameroon vs Namibia: 7 September 16:00 GMT

If Nigeria are a bin-fire, Cameroon must be two bin-fires. That is because for a time in April there were two Cameroon national teams.

Following the failed experiment with Rigobert Song, where Cameroon sought to replicate Senegal’s success with a former star in Aliou Cissé, which ended with a poor outing at the AFCON, the government of Cameroon appointed Belgian coach Marc Brys as the new head coach. This appointment came as news to the Football Federation (Fecafoot) president Samuel Eto’o.

Following a heated argument between Eto’o and Brys, the Belgian was fired and Martin Ndtoungou was put in charge by Eto’o. 48 hours later, Brys was re-instated.

But the drama didn’t end there. In June, ahead of Brys’ first game in charge, the team wasn’t provided with any training kit by the federation and had to cancel their first training sessions. Alongside this, Brys’ assistant coaches were not registered by Fecafoot meaning that they couldn’t train the players, leading superstar goalkeeper André Onana to train by himself without any coaches.

Despite the frustrations, Brys got off to a bright start, thrashing AFCON quarter-finalists Cape Verde 4-1 in Yaoundé before earning a creditable draw away in Angola. But the war between Fecafoot and the Cameroonian government has not ended. Ahead of the game against Namibia, the Indomitable Lions haven’t trained yet because of arguments around where the match would be played. The government wanted the game to be played in the capital Yaoundé but Fecafoot wanted to take the game to Garoua. The issue was only resolved yesterday when CAF and Cameroonian Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute got involved and assigned the game to Garoua.

While Namibia have had similar issues with corruption and instability in the federation, the squad itself is nothing like Cameroon.

Having qualified for only their fourth ever AFCON in January, the team did the unthinkable and won their first ever game against Tunisia in the opener before earning a draw against Mali that would see them reach the knockout stages for the first time ever.

The Brave Warriors have enjoyed unprecedented success thanks almost exclusively to head coach Collin Benjamin. Benjamin is among the countries greatest ever players, spending a decade at Hamburg where he became the only Namibian to play in the UEFA Champions League. He followed that up by earning his coaching badges in Germany (again the only Namibian to have a pro licence). In 2018 he returned to the Brave Warriors as an assistant coach before taking the full reigns in 2022.

And it was in Cameroon where Namibia shocked the continent to qualify for the AFCON in January. With Kenya disqualified from the group due to government interference in the federation (Cameroon take note), two of Cameroon, Namibia and Burundi would qualify for the continent’s showpiece tournament. Namibia held Cameroon to a 1-1 draw in Yaoundé before beating them 2-1 at “home” in Johannesburg. Those results left Cameroon needing a win against Burundi in their final qualifier to scrape into the AFCON.

Could Namibia do it again and capsize an already sinking Cameroon?

Angola vs Sudan: 9 September 19:00 GMT

Group F is an intriguing prospect. With a giant of African football in Ghana and minnows Niger in the group along with middling Sudan and Angola, it would on the face of things look like a straight shoot-out between these two for who will join the Black Stars in Morocco. But this is Ghana, who are at their lowest ever ebb in the last half century. The team followed up a humiliating 2021 AFCON group stage exit at the hands of Comoros with an equally humiliating 2023 AFCON group stage exit at the hands of Mozambique who scored two goals in added time to draw with the black Stars and send them packing.

On the flip-side, Sudan and Angola are both in excellent form.

Sudan, led by former Ghana international and head coach Kwasi Appiah, have defied expectations and are on a run of eight games with only one loss since Appiah took charge. This is in spite of the team being homeless during his entire tender as the civil war in Sudan rages on. The team have relocated to the Saudi Arabian city of Taif but have played home matches in Riyadh, Morocco, Libya and now in Juba. And with most of the players plying their trade with either of the Sudanese club giants Al Hilal and Al Merrikh, they have played less than a handful of competitive club matches in that time while the league has been on hold. The teams recently received approval to join the Mauritanian national league and so will be hoping to remedy that.

The Falcons of Jediane sit atop of their World Cup qualifying group, ahead of Senegal and DRC and beat Togo in their first AFCON qualifier on Wednesday putting pressure on Ghana and Angola ahead of their clash later today.

Angola are perhaps the opposite of both Sudan and Ghana. Pedro Gonçalves, having been in Angola for almost a decade either with clubs or with the youth set up of the national team, took the reigns of Palancas Negras in 2019 and has taken the team from strength to strength. The Portuguese coach led them to the 2023 AFCON where they reached the quarterfinals and topped a group with Algeria and Burkina Faso. Since then, he won the COSAFA Cup with a locally based team and is unbeaten after four games in World Cup qualifying.