{"id":17442,"date":"2026-01-11T17:46:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:46:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/17442\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T17:46:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T17:46:16","slug":"every-semi-finalist-ranked-with-nigeria-3rd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/17442\/","title":{"rendered":"Every semi-finalist ranked with Nigeria 3rd…"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025\u00a0African Cup of Nations<\/a> has reached the semi-final stage, but which of Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria or Senegal are the most likely to win the competition?<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s tournament in Morocco has been as entertaining as ever, with two mouthwatering semi-finals to be played on Wednesday next week.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve ranked the final four on their likelihood of winning the competition, considering factors like form and fixtures.<\/p>\n

4. Egypt<\/p>\n

Egypt are usually effective but tedious at major tournaments, but their 3-2 win over Ivory Coast in the quarters saw them cut (relatively) loose.<\/p>\n

That performance came after several laboured wins, with South Africa beaten with a dodgy penalty in the groups and Benin only seen off in extra-time in the last 16.<\/p>\n

Four-goal Mohamed Salah has impressed in flashes, perhaps motivated by Jamie Carragher<\/a>, as has Omar Marmoush. As ever, a tough core of locally-based players keeps Egypt competitive.<\/p>\n

They probably shouldn\u2019t beat Senegal, but you can never write them off.<\/p>\n

3. Nigeria<\/p>\n

After missing out<\/a> on their second successive World Cup, Nigeria have rolled up their sleeves and taken the tournament by storm.<\/p>\n

Experts at making things difficult for themselves, the Super Eagles have gone against tradition by scoring 14 goals in five matches at AFCON 2025.<\/p>\n

Not even Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman\u2019s on-field spat in the last 16 has derailed them, with Algeria brushed aside with ease in the quarter-final.<\/p>\n

They won\u2019t be favourites against hosts Morocco on Wednesday, but Nigeria have arguably the best forward line in Africa and a point to prove. They can exploit any nerves in Rabat.<\/p>\n

2. Senegal<\/p>\n

Senegal are arguably the most stacked African team since Ivory Coast\u2019s Golden Generation and have beaten both England and Brazil in recent years.<\/p>\n

Sadio Mane and Kalidou Koulibaly are still there, supported by the likes of Nicolas Jackson, Iliman Ndiaye, Ismaila Sarr, Pape Matar Sarr and El Hadji Malick Diouf.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve not been sensational at AFCON so far, with the midfield balance not quite right, but have rarely needed to be against less talented opponents.<\/p>\n

Their meeting with Egypt is a rematch of the 2022 AFCON final, which Senegal won on penalties. They also beat the Pharaohs in a World Cup play-off months later. Expect another tense battle.<\/p>\n

1. Morocco<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s first four matches at AFCON were stodgy, underwhelming and peevish. They made England\u2019s Euro 2024 campaign look free-flowing and joyous in comparison.<\/p>\n

Widely-tipped before the tournament, a gifted squad looked weighed down by the pressures of playing at home.<\/p>\n

But they did enough to edge through and their 2-0 win over Cameroon in the quarters was much better, pacy and aggressive.<\/p>\n

They have a more complete team than Nigeria, but home advantage has proven a double-edged sword so far. The outcome is a coin toss.<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Ranking all 24 home AFCON kits at the 2025 tournament with Nigeria last\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name the top Premier League goalscorer for every African country?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025\u00a0African Cup of Nations has reached the semi-final stage, but which of Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria or Senegal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[411,3300,11023,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-17442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nigeria","8":"tag-afcon","9":"tag-latest","10":"tag-lists-and-rankings","11":"tag-nigeria"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}