Julius OkorieFormer Super Eagles Captain, Joseph Yobo, is leading the pack of African legends expected to facilitate the draw for 2025 AFCON tonight in Rabbat Morocco.
The former Everton and Fernabahce defender, it will be recalled made 101 appearances for Nigeria’s Super Eagles over a distinguished 13-year career with seven goals to his credit.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelYobo who captained the Eagles to AFCON title in 2013 is a veteran of six continental finals in addition to featuring in three FIFA World Cups in 2002, 2010 and 2014. The 44-year-old who also played Standard Liège of Belgium, Marseille of France and Norwich City in the course of his 387 career appearances, will be joined by other African legends including Morocco’s Mustapha Hadji, Cote d Ivoire’s Serge Aurier and Aliou Cisse.
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The 24 qualified teams will learn their path to the trophy at tonight’s Final Draw, which starts at 19h00 local time (18h00 GMT | 20h00 Cairo).
Hadji, Cisse, Aurier and Yobo will not only pull the balls from the pots, but also be on hand to offer their insights into the groups for the tournament that will be played in Morocco from 21 December, 2025 to 18 January, 2026.
Other Legends Who Will Partner With Yobo In Morocco:
Mustapha Hadji (Morocco)
Hadji is renowned as one of Morocco’s greatest ever players and was named African Footballer of the Year in 1998. He won 63 caps for his country and scored 12 goals, playing at two FIFA World Cup tournaments.
He netted the winner for Morocco against Egypt at the 1998 TotalEnergies CAF AFCON, the only team to inflict a defeat on the eventual champions. He also played at the 2000 finals.
He had a successful club career in France, Portugal, Spain and England, and in 2011 received the CAF Legends award for his services to the game.
Serge Aurier (Cote d Ivoire)
Aurier is a two-time winner of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON having lifted the trophy in the 2015 and 2023 editions. The right-back has been a stalwart of the national team since his debut in 2013 and has 93 caps, scoring four goals.
His club career has taken him to the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur, and he is a two-time winner of the French Ligue 1.
He had the honour of being named in the CAF Team of the Year on four occasions between 2015 and 2019, showing his incredible consistency for club and country in that period.
Aliou Cisse (Senegal)
Cisse was captain of Senegal when they excelled at the 2002 FIFA World Cup by reaching the quarter-finals against the odds, and while he failed to lift the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON as a player, he later did so as coach of the national team.
He won 35 caps as an industrious midfielder during a period when he played for Paris Saint-Germain in France, leading Senegal to the 2002 TotalEnergies CAF AFCON final where they lost out to Cameroon.
He became head coach of the national team in 2015 and would lead them through a golden period that included lifting the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON in 2021, and to FIFA World Cup qualifications in 2018 and 2022. He was named CAF Coach of the Year at the CAF Awards in 2022.
Qualified teams for the 35th AFCON are as follows:
Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
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