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Every Premier League player going to AFCON - Which team will be impacted the most?
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 15 Dec 2025 09:09 CST
- 3 min read
Nieuws
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations starts next week and there are a number of Premier League teams who will have their squads weakened due to players heading to the tournament in Morocco.
Ivory Coast are looking to defend their AFCON title, having defeated Nigeria 2-1 in the 2023 final.
Even though the AFCON is an extremely prestigious tournament, when every edition comes around critics point to its scheduling as it takes place in the middle of the European league calendar.
The 2025 edition of the AFCON will take place between 21 December and 18 January.
There could be as much as 45 Premier League players who will represent their country at the tournament over the next month or so.
Sunderland are, by far, the most impacted team in the English top-flight as they have no less than six players heading to AFCON - Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo), Reinildo (Mozambique), Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco) and Habib Diarra (Senegal).
Premier League players going to AFCON
| Club | AFCON Players |
|---|---|
| Sunderland (6) | Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo), Reinildo (Mozambique), Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco) and Habib Diarra (Senegal) |
| Man Utd (3) | Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco) |
| Fulham (3) | Alex Iwobi, Calvin Bassey, Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria) |
| Burnley (3) | Axel Tuanzebe (DR Congo), Lyle Foster (South Africa), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia) |
| Nottingham Forest (2) | Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast) |
| Wolves (2) | Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast), Tawanda Chirewa (Zimbabwe) |
| Everton (2) | Iliman Ndiaye, Idrissa Gueye (Senegal) |
| Man City (2) | Omar Marmoush (Egypt), Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria) |
| Brentford (2) | Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria) |
| Tottenham (2) | Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal), Yves Bissouma (Mali) |
| West Ham (2) | Aaron Wan-Bissak (DR Congo), El Hadji Malick Diouf (Senegal) |
| Crystal Palace (1) | Ismaila Sarr (Senegal) |
| Liverpool (1) | Mohamed Salah (Egypt) |
| Brighton | Carlos Baleba (Cameroon) |
| Aston Villa (0) | N/A |
| Bournemouth (0) | N/A |
| Newcastle (0) | N/A |
| Arsenal (0) | N/A |
| Chelsea (0) | N/A |
| Leeds (0) | N/A |
The highest profile player at the tournament will be Mohamed Salah of Egypt. It will undoubtedly present a welcome distraction for the Liverpool star who is currently embroiled in a dispute with the club and manager Arne Slot.
Following the draw against Leeds United last Saturday, Salah accused the club of throwing him under the bus following a desperate run of form. He was subsequently left out of the squad for the next match - against Inter in the Champions League - though he did appear off the bench at the weekend as Liverpool defeated Brighton 2-0.
Six out of the 20 teams in the Premier League don't have any players going to AFCON - Arsenal, Leeds, Newcastle, Chelsea, Aston Villa and Bournemouth.
Benin, Botswana, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Sudan are the only countries who have no UK-based players.
AFCON Groups
Group A: Comoros, Mali, Morocco, Zambia
Group B: Angola, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe
Group C: Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda
Group D: Benin, Botswana, DR Congo, Senegal,
Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
Group F: Cameroon, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique
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