"Korea and Japan's World Cup opponents are eliminated early" confirmed to advance to the quarterfinals of the Africa Cup of Nations

*This content was translated by AI.

The quarterfinals of the 2025 African Football Confederation (CAF) Africa Cup of Nations, which will determine the strongest team in Africa, have been confirmed. In the 2026 FIFA North American World Cup, all teams in the same group as South Korea and Japan were "eliminated early" in the round of 16.

The Africa Cup of Nations, which is being held in Morocco, was confirmed to be the quarterfinals after the round of 16 match between Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso on the 7th (Korea time). The quarterfinals will be played in a showdown between Mali (53rd in the FIFA rankings), Senegal (19th), Egypt (35th) and Cote d'Ivoire (42nd), Cameroon (57th), Morocco (11th), Algeria (34th) and Nigeria (38th).

Among the teams that reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, five teams qualified for the North American World Cup finals: Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Morocco, and Senegal. Mali, Cameroon, and Nigeria did not make it to the North American World Cup finals but advanced to the quarterfinals of the African Cup of Nations.

South Africa (61st in FIFA rankings), which belongs to South Korea and North American World Cup Group A, were eliminated in the round of 16. South Africa, which made a sensation in third place in the previous tournament, lost to Egypt 0-1 after beating Angola 2-1 in Group B, beat Zimbabwe 3-2 and advanced to the round of 16 in second place, but lost 1-2 to Cameroon, a team that failed to qualify for the World Cup, in the first round of the tournament.

Tunisia (41st in FIFA rankings), which is also in Group F of the World Cup with Japan, passed Group C of the Africa Cup of Nations in second place, but was eliminated after losing to Mali in the round of 16 after a penalty shootout. Among the teams that advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament, only two teams from Asia and North American World Cup will meet Iran, Egypt (Group G), and Algeria (Group J), tied to Jordan.

Immediately after the quarterfinal match was confirmed, soccer statistics media Opta ranked Morocco (22.52%), Senegal (17.64%), Algeria (14.91%), Egypt (12.25%), and Nigeria (11.96%). The African Cup of Nations is a major competition organized by the continental soccer federation, including the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup and the UEFA European Championship (Euro). The defending champion is Ivory Coast, and the most winning team in the tournament is Egypt (seven times).

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*This content was translated by AI.