Morocco to reach the semi-finals

The Atlas Lions were one of the first teams to arrive in Ivory Coast for the 2023 AFCON. Expectations are high for Morocco given their exploits at the 2022 World Cup, where they became the first African country to reach the semi-final stage.

Morocco have only one AFCON title to their name, a record Walid Regragui is desperate to change. In the last AFCON, the Atlas Lions were knocked out in the last eight by finalists Egypt. This time they’re tipped to go deeper in Ivory Coast.

Regragui’s men sailed through the qualifiers topping the group, only losing a game that didn’t mean much to the group dynamics.

Ghana to reach the quarter-finals

The Black Stars statistically put up their worst-ever performance in a major competition picking up just one point and crashing out of the group stages of the 2021 AFCON.

The team has since improved by qualifying for the 2022 World Cup and in the process getting several players to switch nationalities.

The four-time AFCON champions return to Africa’s biggest competition with a much stronger squad headlined by West Ham forward Mohammed Kudus. The 23-year-old has 10 goals in all competitions for his new side and is their second top scorer this season.

Before 2017, Ghana had reached the semi-finals of the AFCON on seven consecutive occasions. Don’t put it beyond them to return to the latter stages of the competition this time.

Equatorial Guinea to qualify from Group A

The Nzalang Nacional have a 100% success rate when it comes to qualifying from their AFCON group. In the previous three times they’ve qualified for the AFCON, they’ve reached the semi-finals once and the quarter-finals twice.

In the last AFCON, they ended Algeria’s 35-game unbeaten run and beat Mali on penalties in the round of 16 to make the last 8.

Equatorial Guinea tend to find themselves in difficult groups but always find a way to navigate their way through and 2023 looks like it’ll be no different. They are in Group A alongside hosts Ivory Coast, Nigeria, and Guinea-Bissau.

Ivorians are quick to forget the 1984 AFCON – which was the last time they hosted the competition. It was the 14th edition of the tournament and despite being the hosts the Elephants crashed out at the group stages, after failing to pick up a win. It remains one of the darkest moments in Ivorian football.

A lot has changed since then. For starters, they’ve been to four finals and have won the trophy twice. You can’t exclude the coastal nation when looking at the favourites for any AFCON tournaments.

The Ivory Coast squad consists of a perfect blend of youth and experience. Young players like Karim Konate, Simon Adingra, and Ousmane Diomande will bring fresh energy. Whilst Jean-Louis Gasset can rely on Max Gradel, Jeremie Boga, and Serge Aurier to mobilise the squad with their experience.

AFCON hosts have struggled in recent times. Since 1982, just five host countries have won the AFCON out of a possible 19. Interestingly, none of the nine hosts across the last eight tournaments have lifted the trophy.

Can Ivory Coast break that jinx? They genuinely have a shout to go all the way. The Elephants have lost just once in their last nine games. They’ve started the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in fine form, winning their first two games by scoring 11 goals and conceding none.

The last country to defend an AFCON title was Egypt back in 2010. The Pharaohs became the first and only country to date to win three consecutive AFCON titles.

What makes Senegal’s charge this year unique is their journey. Their maiden success in 2021 didn’t come on a silver platter. The Lions of Teranga, since failing to qualify for the 2012 AFCON, have progressed naturally in the tournament. In 2015 they were eliminated at the group stages, they made the quarter-finals in 2017, and then lost the final in 2019 before winning the next edition. In this period, the Senegalese have stuck with their head coach Aliou Cisse, and the squad’s core.

That is where the reigning champions get their strength from. Their unity, resilience, and experience sets them apart and makes them real challengers for the title once more. Cisse will hope for his new youthful attackers in Nicolas Jackson and Abdallah Sima to bring fresh energy that the team can take inspiration from.

Egypt’s record-extending 8th AFCON title is close and recent history suggests they have a great chance in this tournament. Since winning the competition in 2010, the Pharaohs have reached the final on two occasions (2017 and 2021). In the last edition, the North African country were just a couple of penalty kicks away from the trophy.

Out of all 24 teams in this year’s AFCON, Egypt have the oldest squad with an average age of 28.85 years. This comes as no surprise as the seven-time winners have kept the core of their squad in recent tournaments.

One of which is Mohamed Salah who is 31 years old and still after his first trophy for his native country. The Liverpool forward is motivated and has stated publicly quite often that he wants to win something with Egypt.

Salah contributed to 75% of Egypt’s goals at the last AFCON, and with him in their squad they have one of the most in-form players in world football. He has 18 goals already in all competitions this season and looks a genuine threat whenever he gets on the ball.

Before accepting the Egypt job, Rui Vitória had managed eight teams including Benfica, Vitória Guimarães, Spartak Moscow, and Al Nassr. He’s won the Portuguese League twice, the Portuguese Cup, and the Saudi League. The Portuguese coach is used to winning but has now been arguably presented with his biggest challenge yet and that’s to end Egypt’s 14-year AFCON drought.

Under Carlos Queiroz, Egypt were more cautious with their football and only scored four goals in their seven 2021 AFCON games. Despite that Salah scored two which is 50% of the team’s tally.

He has scored 0.72 goals per 90 for Liverpool this season, which is a better rate than last season. The question is whether he can replicate that for his national team in Ivory Coast.

The 31-year-old scored two goals in four of the 2023 AFCON qualifiers and scored four in the opening qualifier of the 2026 World Cup against Djibouti.

Since taking charge of the Pharoahs, Vitória’s side are scoring 2.4 goals per game and if they can keep that up in Ivory Coast then Salah should plunder his fair share.

Victor Osimhen is probably looking forward to this tournament more than any player. The striker missed the 2021 edition due to injury and COVID-19 and will be eager to represent Nigeria at the continental showpiece.

Since missing the last AFCON, Osimhen has scored 42 goals for Napoli which is the fifth-highest tally across Europe’s top five leagues. He heads into the tournament as the CAF Men’s Player of the Year having also finished eighth in the Ballon d’Or.

The 25-year-old finished as the top scorer for the 2023 AFCON qualifiers scoring 10 goals and is well poised to dominate in Ivory Coast. He scores a goal every 102.6 minutes for Nigeria on average and if the Super Eagles can go all the way, Osimhen could take home the golden boot.

This seems like a wildcard especially considering Nicolas Jackson is yet to score for Senegal from his six caps so far. Fairly inexperienced but the AFCON has a way of throwing up surprises and Jackson looks like the continent’s next big star.

The 22-year-old joined Chelsea over the summer and has eight goals already, seven coming in the Premier League. He’s also been exceptionally adept at getting on the end of chances. If you’re looking at players with over 600 minutes of Premier League football played this season, Jackson has the fourth-best non-penalty xG per 90 with a tally of 0.66.

With Senegal stacked with creative players like Ismaila Sarr and Sadio Mane, Jackson will receive some high-quality chances.