By Victor Kanayo
With the final round of qualification matches set to be played in the next few days, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Uganda are among the countries sure of picking up 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tickets.
Heritage Times HT reports that out of 24 Nations needed to make the AFCON finals, seven teams have already secured their tickets to join hosts Morocco at the 35th edition of the AFCON scheduled between December 21, 2025 and 18 January, 2026.
They are Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt and Senegal.
Up to 52 countries had started the qualification campaign with 17 slots remaining for teams to battle for in the upcoming biennial soccer competition.
Meanwhile, four-time Africa Cup of Nations winners Ghana could see their streak of 10 successive appearances at the tournament come to an end this week as victories in their remaining two qualifiers may not be enough to seal a place at the finals in Morocco.
Only Egypt (26) and Cote d’Ivoire (25) have been to more Cup of Nations finals than the Black Stars (24) but Ghana are likely to be out of contention by Thursday after a woeful qualifying campaign.
The top two finishers in each of the 12 groups advance to next year’s finals. Ghana are third in Group F with two points from four matches, with Angola already qualified and Sudan needing just a draw from two games to join them.
Angola have a 100% record with four straight wins while Sudan are on seven points and face bottom-placed Niger in neutral Togo on Thursday. Sudan also have the upper hand on Ghana on a head-to-head basis.
Ghana must beat Angola in Luanda and Niger at home and hope Sudan lose both their matches if they are to qualify.
