AFCON and how it will affect each of the 20 Premier League clubs is definitely worth a look | OneFootball

AFCON (African Cup of Nations) is fast approaching and interesting to see how this is set to impact the various Premier League clubs.

The tournament is taking place in Morocco and lasts for four weeks from Sunday 21 December 2025 to Sunday 18 January 2026.

In total, there are currently fifty players from African countries who currently play in the Premier League.

However, ‘only’ 46 could be at AFCON and missing this middle period of the season with their Premier League clubs, with Ghana, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau all failing to qualify. Tottenham’s Mohammed Kudus and Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo are four African players with Premier League clubs who will not feature at the competition.

During this upcoming AFCON tournament, there are six rounds of Premier League fixtures due to take place between those dates (21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026), as well as the third round of the FA Cup and the semi-final first legs of the Carabao Cup, meaning a total of eight matches some players may miss during the actual AFCON tournament.

This of course doesn’t take into account whether some countries will expect to have players at training camps in advance, to help prepare for AFCON. Plus of course the recovery time afterwards…

Brentford: Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria),

Burnley: Axel Tuanzebe (DR Congo), Lyle Foster (South Africa), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia)

Chelsea: No African players in current first-team squad

Crystal Palace: Ismaila Sarr (Senegal), Christantus Uche (Nigeria), Cheick Doucoure (Mali), Chadi Riad (Morocco)

Everton: Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal), Idrissa Gueye (Senegal), Adam Aznou (Morocco)

Fulham: Calvin Bassey (Nigeria), Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria)

Liverpool: Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

Man U: Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Bryan Mbuemo (Cameroon)

Newcastle United: Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)

Nottingham Forest: Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast), Taiwo Awoniyi (Nigeria), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Ola Aina (Nigeria)

Sunderland: Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Blondy Nna Noukeu (Cameroon), Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique), Habib Diarra (Senegal), Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo), Ahmed Abdullahi (Nigeria), Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)

Tottenham: Yves Bissouma (Mali), Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal)

West Ham: El Hadji Malick Diouf (Senegal), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (DR Congo)

Wolves: Marshall Munetsi (Zimbabwe), Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast), Tolu Arokodare (Nigeria), Tawanda Chirewa (Zimbabwe), Jackson Tchatchoua (Cameroon)

My conclusions

It used to be sizeable issue for Newcastle United, when having to do without the quality of players such as Demba Ba, Papiss Cisse and Cheick Tiote.

In the present day, obviously there has been a lot of focus on Yoane Wissa, with Newcastle United fans hoping that DR Congo will be understanding and not stand in the way of the striker making up for lost time with NUFC, after his injury that was sustained on international duty having kept him out so far this season.

I was though especially interested to see which team will be MOST impacted by AFCON, which one amongst the Premier League clubs that has most players from African nations.

Had a look at the stats and looks like as well as many of their other African contingent getting starts this season, the likes of Talbi and Sadiki have played in every Premier League game for Sunderland so far.

Hopefully Newcastle United can keep Yoane Wissa on Tyneside but I will also be interested to see how AFCON impacts our friends down the road.

Also, with the Sunderland v Newcastle derby coming up on Sunday 14 December, only a week before AFCON kicks off, it remains to be seen when exactly the various African countries will be expecting their players to turn up and start preparing for the tournament.