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SIX GAMES MISSED: THE FULL LIST OF PREMIER LEAGUE PLAYERS HEADING TO AFCON 2025
Sunderland loses five players as AFCON 2025 begins. We detail every club's absentee list, including key stars like Salah, Mbeumo, and the Fulham trio.
The 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) starts on December 21st, meaning several Premier League players will head off in winter to play for their countries.
The tournament goes from December 21st to January 18th, 2026. Depending on how far their country goes, players could miss up to six Premier League games.
FIFA said recently that clubs can keep players until December 15th before they have to leave for the tournament.
Several Premier League clubs will lose players to AFCON this winter. Here's a list of players going on international duty, according to Flashscore:
Arsenal - zero players
The Gunners don't have any African players in their first-team squad.
Aston Villa—one player
Winger Evann Guessand often plays for the Ivory Coast and is likely to join the current AFCON champions.
Bournemouth—one player
Amine Adli, who signed this summer, should be picked for Morocco, which is hosting the tournament. But Bournemouth will keep Antoine Semenyo because Ghana didn't make it to the event.
Brentford—two players
Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso) and Frank Onyeka (Nigeria) might be called up by their countries. Onyeka is on the Super Eagles' preliminary list.
Brighton - one player
Carlos Baleba hasn't had a great season, but is still on Cameroon's squad for AFCON 2025/26. Yankuba Minteh will stay with Brighton since Gambia didn't qualify.
Burnley—three players
Lyle Foster is on South Africa's team, and Axel Tuanzebe was picked for DR Congo.
Hannibal Mejbri is also going to play for Tunisia.
Chelsea - zero players
Chelsea doesn't have any African players in their first-team squad.
Crystal Palace—one player
The Eagles have a few first-team players who could have gone to Morocco, but some were injured before the tournament.
Chadi Riad (Morocco) and Cheick Doucoure (Mali) haven't played for the club this season and will miss AFCON. Ismaila Sarr (Senegal) was injured in their December game against Manchester United, so it's unclear if he'll be ready.
Christantus Uche was on Nigeria's preliminary list but didn't make the final team.
Everton—two players
Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye are regular players for Senegal and should join the team before the tournament.
Adam Aznou won't be playing for Morocco, the host country.
Fulham—three players
The Nigerian trio of Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, and Samuel Chukwueze are all on Nigeria's team.
Leeds—zero players
Leeds doesn't have any African players in their first-team squad.
Liverpool—one player
As expected, Mohamed Salah will play for Egypt.
Manchester City—two players
Omar Marmoush will be joining Egypt as well.
Rayan Ait-Nouri hasn't played much recently, but should join Algeria.
Manchester United—three players
Three important players are going to AFCON: Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon), and Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco).
Newcastle—zero players
Yoane Wissa would usually play for DR Congo, but he wasn't picked because he's currently injured.
Nottingham Forest—two players
Taiwo Awoniyi was on Nigeria's provisional list, as was Ola Aina. But the defender is expected to be out until January with a hamstring injury, and neither made the final team.
Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly will both play for the Ivory Coast.
Sunderland—five players
Sunderland will be the most affected club by AFCON, with five of their first-team players confirmed to leave.
Noah Sadiki and Arthur Masuaku are on DR Congo's team, while Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique), and Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso) were also picked.
Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast) wasn't called up by his country.
Habib Diarra, the club's record signing, is also expected to join Senegal if he recovers from a groin injury that has kept him out since September.
Tottenham Hotspur—two players
Pape Matar Sarr will likely be picked by Senegal. It's not yet known if Yves Bissouma, who hasn't been playing much, will join Mali.
Mohammed Kudus, a winger, plays for Ghana, but they didn't qualify for the tournament.
West Ham—two players
The Hammers will miss defensive duo Aaron Wan-Bissaka and El Hadji Malick Diouf. Wan-Bissaka has been called up for DR Congo, and Diouf will probably play for Senegal.
Wolves—two players
Only two of a possible five players are set to leave for AFCON. The club is currently at the bottom of the Premier League.
Marshall Munetsi wasn't picked by Zimbabwe, but Tawanda Chirewa will join them. Emmanuel Agbadou was picked by the Ivory Coast.
Tolu Arokodare was on Nigeria's preliminary list but not the final one, and Jackson Tchatchoua wasn't picked by Cameroon.
AFCON: SOUTH AFRICA MUST BREAK TWENTY ONE YEAR CURSE AGAINST EGYPT THIS FRIDAY NIGHT
South Africa has only beaten two teams in the group stages since 2004 as they prepare for a massive Egypt test.
Bafana Bafana is looking to keep its momentum going at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. They're playing Egypt in their second Group B game in Agadir this Friday, which will really test both teams' title hopes.
Both Bafana and the Pharaohs won their first games 2-1, against Angola and Zimbabwe, but their wins weren't as convincing as they wanted.
Now, they're facing off in what will probably decide who gets first place in the group. The winner, if there is one, will get a big confidence boost.
But here's a statistic that might worry Bafana fans before the game.
It's been 21 years and 21 group stage games since Bafana beat Benin in their first match at the 2004 Cup of Nations finals. Since then, they've only managed to beat two teams in the group stages.
If you asked any Bafana fan if that's true, they'd probably question it, despite the team's problems recently.
The only wins the team has had in group play since then are a couple of wins against Angola (2013, & 2025) and Namibia (2019, & 2023).
They've played 13 different teams during that period and haven't been able to beat 11 of them.
There have been seven draws and 10 losses, which is way too many losses in what's supposed to be the easiest part of the competition.
They haven't managed to win back-to-back group games during that time (in fact, the Benin win was the last time they did), and their biggest win in the group stages happened in the last edition when they beat Namibia 4-0.
That being said, this bad stretch started with their worst defeat ever, a 4-0 loss to Nigeria in 2004.
But there's reason to believe that this 2025 team, which has grown into a skilled team, can turn things around. If not against Egypt (where a draw would be good), then for sure in their final group match with Zimbabwe on December 29.
Looking at all group matches at the finals since their successful debut in 1996, the record is more balanced. Bafana Bafana has 11 wins, 11 losses, and 12 draws in 34 games, scoring 37 goals and letting in 34.
They've had 12 clean sheets during that time and haven't scored in 12 games.
THE MASSIVE EGYPTIAN RECORD MOHAMED SALAH JUST SMASHED DURING THE ZIMBABWE OPENING MATCH
Mohamed Salah becomes the first Egyptian to score in five straight Afcons after a 91st minute winner against Zimbabwe.
In their opening Africa Cup of Nations match, Mohamed Salah scored in the 91st minute, giving Egypt a win against Zimbabwe.
Salah has now scored in five straight Africa Cup of Nations tournaments, a first for an Egyptian player.
Up next, Egypt will play South Africa and then Angola in their last group stage match.
With a late goal in Monday's 2-1 victory over Zimbabwe, Mohamed Salah became the first Egyptian player to score in five straight African Cup of Nations competitions.
After being benched for four games at Liverpool, Egypt's captain started and scored with his left foot in the 91st minute. This gave the seven-time champions a late victory and a good start in Morocco for Hossam Hassan's team, plus set a record for Egypt.
The Egyptian FA shared on X that national team captain Mohamed Salah is the first Egyptian player to score in five Africa Cup of Nations in a row.
Liverpool's star, who has had trouble getting into the Reds' lineup this season, scored in the 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, and now 2025 competitions. He joins Didier Drogba, Abdoulaye Traore, and Yaya Toure from Ivory Coast, and Youssef Msakni, a Tunisian winger, in achieving this.
Salah could score even more since there are two AFCON tournaments scheduled in the next three years, in 2027 and 2028.
If he scores in each one, he'll beat the record held by Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia), and Andre Ayew and Asamoah Gyan (Ghana).
The 33-year-old has scored eight goals in 20 AFCON games. That's four fewer than Hassan El-Shazly, who has the most goals for Egypt in the tournament, and three fewer than his current coach, Hassan.
Egypt plays South Africa on Friday and Angola on December 29. Salah hopes to finally win the Africa Cup after losing in the finals in 2017 and 2021.
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