Michael Mongie

Fri 26 September 2025 18:50, UK

Premier League clubs will say farewell to some of their stars when AFCON starts, with 47 players set to be called up by African nations for the 35th iteration of the tournament set to kick off later this year.

Morocco will host the 2025 AFCON tournament and will be hoping to de-throne the champions of Africa Ivory Coast in front of their compatriots.

AFCON was originally scheduled to take place during the summer, but FIFA’s Club World Cup meant that the tournament was forced to take place during the season again.

The tournament will start on December 21, 2025 and will end on January 18, 2026 – not including travel and time for the players to train before the competition officially starts.

Premier League clubs are set to be heavily affected but which team will be dealt the toughest blow come December?

Every Premier League club affected by AFCON this season

Arsenal

Arsenal don’t have any African players in their squad this season. It’s a positive for Mikel Arteta as Arsenal are struggling with injuries already this season.

Aston Villa

Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast) is the only representative of Aston Villa heading to AFCON this season after his £26m move to Villa Park in the summer.

Villa are floundering in the relegation zone, and unless they can improve their form before December and climb the table, even losing one player will be a severe blow.

Bournemouth

Like Villa, Bournemouth have just one representative heading to AFCON with Amine Adli (Morocco) also a newcomer to the Premier League.

Brentford

Brentford will only have to sacrifice two players for the nearly month-long tournament in Morocco, with Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso) and Frank Onyeka (Nigeria) set to take part at the end of the year.

Brighton

Carlos Baleba (Cameroon) is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and should be one of the stars of the tournament. Cameroon are expected to make it to the latter stages of the tournament, and if they do, Baleba will no doubt be among the main reasons why.

Last season, the 21-year-old starred for Brighton, and many expected him to leave on transfer.

Burnley

Burnley are set to be one of the most heavily affected sides with Scott Parker set to lose Axel Tuanzebe (Democratic Republic of Congo), Manuel Benson (Angola), Lyle Foster (South Africa) and Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia) in December.

The Clarets will need to ensure they put themselves in a strong position by Christmas to ensure they aren’t too heavily affected by the loss of four of their players.

Chelsea

Nicolas Jackson is on loan at Bayern Munich, so Chelsea are not set to be affected by the 2025 AFCON at all. The striker will represent Senegal at the tournament.

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace are another team set to be majorly affected by the unfortunate scheduling of AFCON, with Ismaila Sarr (Senegal), Christantus Uche (Nigeria), Cheick Doucoure (Mali) and Chadi Riad (Morocco) all set to be unavailable to Oliver Glasner for at least two weeks.

Additionally, the impact of losing so many key players in such a busy period could further prejudice Palace into refusing to sell Marc Guehi in the January transfer window. It would mean the Eagles lose Guehi for free when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Everton

Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye will travel together to Morocco, with both Everton stars set to represent Senegal at AFCON barring injury.

Fulham

Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi (both Nigeria) will be major losses for Fulham, who will also part ways with Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria) until AFCON is over or until their respective nations are eliminated.

Leeds

No African players in Leeds‘ first-team squad this season.

Liverpool

Mohamed Salah (Egypt) is the only player from Liverpool heading to AFCON this year but will be one of the biggest audience attractions after the incredible display he put on last season.

In 52 games for the Reds last season, the Egyptian King scored 34 goals in addition to the 23 assists he provided for teammates. Salah’s performances saw him lift both the Premier League Golden Boot and the Playmaker of the Season trophy.

He was also named PFA Player of the Season for what has gone down as the greatest individual display in a single Premier League season in history, with the 33-year-old setting a new record of 47 goal contributions in a single season.

Manchester City

Omar Marmoush (Egypt) and Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria) will both be massive absentees for Manchester City, although Pep Guardiola’s squad likely has more than enough talent to make do with their absence.

Manchester United

Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast) and Bryan Mbuemo (Cameroon) will all be missing for Manchester United.

Mbeumo will be a particularly tough loss to deal with, given the 20 goals and nine assists he scored for Brentford in the 2024-25 season that preceded his £71million summer move to Old Trafford. That said, Man United bought well in the summer and should, on paper, be able to cope without him.

Andre Onana (Cameroon) is on loan at Trabzonspor.

Newcastle

Yoane Wissa (Democratic Republic of Congo) is going to be a major loss for Newcastle United and Eddie Howe. Like Mbeumo, the 29-year-old Congolese forward was exceptional in the Premier League last season, scoring 19 goals and providing five assists.

Wissa should be one of the most exciting players to watch at the tournament.

Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest is another Premier League team that will have to cope with several absentees, as Ibrahim Sangare and Willy Boly will head off to join Ivory Coast while Taiwo Awoniyi and Ola Aina will join the Nigeria national team.

It will be fascinating to see how Forest cope with four key players absent.

Sunderland

Sunderland are by far the most severely affected Premier League club for the 2025 AFCON. Arguably, this situation has come about due to poor planning, but one thing is clear: December and January are going to be critical months in determining the success of the Black Cats’ return to England’s top flight.

The players Sunderland will be without are:

• Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco)
• Blondy Nna Noukeu (Cameroon)
• Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique)
• Habib Diarra (Senegal)
• Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast)
• Arthur Masuaku (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Noah Sadiki (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Ahmed Abdullahi (Nigeria)
• Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)

Tottenham

Tottenham will likely be able to cope without Yves Bissouma (Mali) and Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal) when they head to AFCON, given the brilliant transfer work the club completed in the summer.

The arrival of Xavi Simons, in particular, has given the Europa League champions a new edge. The Dutch midfielder has zero angle biases, given he can use both feet and is adept at using the outside of his boot to create incisive angles.

That said, Sarr has been brilliant this season, with his display in the 2-0 win over Manchester City a strong indication of how good he is.

West Ham

Even though West Ham are only set to lose two players to AFCON, they cannot afford to lose any key players. El Hadji Malick Diouf (Senegal) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (Democratic Republic of Congo) will be absent from the end of December, so it’s vital that the Hammers climb the Premier League table in the coming months.

If West Ham are still in the relegation zone when AFCON starts, it will be a long second half of the season.

Wolves

Wolves are another team that will struggle when AFCON starts. They will be without five players:

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

Marshall Munetsi has been an exciting watch this season and as he continues to get used to Wolves and their tactical demands, he will only get better.

Wolves are in the same basket as Aston Villa and West Ham in that they need to fight hard to move out of the relegation zone before their African stars head off to the continent to take part in AFCON.