AFCON 2025: Aliou Cisse picks suitable candidates to lift trophy

Former Senegal captain, Aliou Cisse has named countries that are capable of winning the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

Cisse, who led the Teranga Lions to their maiden AFCON trophy in 2022 in Cameroon, currently manages the Libya senior men’s team.

The former Paris St-Germain and Birmingham City midfielder expressed his bias towards Senegal to win the tournament but equally tipped Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria as suitable candidates .

Cisse guided Senegal to their maiden AFCON trophy

“I hope it will be Senegal, because I come from Senegal and my heart is with Senegal,” he told Africafoot United.

“It’s worth remembering that Cisse led Senegal to their first AFCON victory in 2022 in Cameroon, after two previous final defeats.

“Besides Senegal, there are many teams capable of winning this AFCON. Morocco is also a contender, as are Algeria, Egypt, and Nigeria…

“You can’t predict exactly who will win an AFCON. You can make predictions for a World Cup. But an AFCON is very complicated. There will always be surprises.”

Aliou Cisse, 49, captained Senegal to the AFCON final in 2002 before coaching them to the same level in 2019 where they lost 1-0 to Algeria. He was in charge when the West African nation lifted their first ever trophy in 2022 after a 4-2 penalty shootout win over Egypt.

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations is fixed between December 21 and January 18 with 24 teams set to battle for honours.