AFCON 2025: All you need to know about Egypt

The country

Capital: Cairo

Area: 1 001 450 km2

Population: 105,174,090

Official language: Arabic

Inhabitants: Egyptian/ Egyptian

Motto: «Silence and patience, freedom, socialism, unity»

Team nickname: The Pharaohs

Egypt and the AFCON

Titles: 7

Finals: 10

Participations before AFCON 2025: 26

Host Country: 5 (1959, 1974, 1986, 2006, 2019)

Course at the AFCON

1957: winner

1959: winner

1962: finalist

1963: 3rd

1970: 3rd

1974: 3rd

1976: semi-finalist

1980: 4th

1984: 4th

1986: winner

1988: eliminated in the first round

1990: eliminated in the first round

1992: eliminated in the first round

1994: quarter-finalist

1996: quarter-finalist

1998: winner

2000: quarter-finalist

2002: quarter-finalist

2004: eliminated in the first round

2006: winner

2008: winner

2010: winner

2017: finalist

2019: eighth runner-up

2021: finalist

2023: eighth runner-up

Assessment at the AFCON

111 matches played

60 victories

24 draws

27 defeats

172 goals scored

95 goals conceded

Mohamed Salah, the last chance

Obviously at his almost last chance to try to win a silver wear with Egypt, Mohamed Salah does not arrive in the best conditions. The right wing is in open conflict with his leaders and no longer has any playing time. He started the last games on the bench at Liverpool. In the Champions League, he did not travel to Italy for the match won against Inter Milan. 

From December 15, Salah will leave the tense atmosphere in Liverpool to start preparations for AFCON 2025. The player has a multiple revenge to take. He has already lost two finals. In addition, during the last edition, he left his partners due to an injury.

15 years after the last victory at the continental stage, the Pharaohs will be expected to portray magic in a familiar environment: Moroccan soil. The team will be able to rely on the duo Salah - Marmoush to explode the opposing defenses in order to go all the way. Returning to Cairo with the 8th star is the ultimate goal.

Hossam Hassan under pressure before AFCON 2025

Hossam Hassan, selector of the Pharaons
In February 2024, after a failed attempt in 2023 and a knockout in the round of 16, the Egyptian Football Federation (EFA) sacked Rui Vitoria and appoints Hossam Hassan. A legend of Egyptian football and the best scorer in the history of the Pharaohs (68 goals in 176 games), he was called up to allow the team to return to the forefront. More than a year after his arrival, the results speak in his favor although the game produced is criticized. 

Egypt qualified for the 2026 World Cup and is one of the favorite teams to win in Morocco. As for the coach, he has a record of 10 wins, 4 draws, 1 defeat in 15 matches. He totally changed the face of the Pharaohs by incorporating young players. Between criticism and a better result expected at the African Cup of Nations, Hossam Hassan is under pressure.

The Egyptian team will battle for supremacy in group B with Angola, South Africa and Zimbabwe. They take on to the pitch against the Zimbabweans on Monday, December 22, 2025 at 20:00 GMT, in Agadir.