* Sunday’s Round of 16 encounter is the second AfCON meeting between the two nations, following their group-stage encounter at the 2023 edition
* As Group D winners and unbeaten Senegal face Group E best 3rd-place finishers Sudan tomorrow
Maravi Express
Tanzania, who qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) for the first time, will face hosts Morocco on Sunday in a high-stakes Round of 16 clash at the Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah.
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This will be the 9th meeting between the two sides having met eight times in all competitions in which Morocco have won seven of those meetings, including the last five in succession, while Tanzania have recorded one victory.
There have been no draws and Morocco have scored in all eight meetings and have kept all five clean sheets recorded in the fixture. Tanzania have failed to score in their last four matches against Morocco.
Sunday’s is the second AfCON meeting between the two nations, following their group-stage encounter at the 2023 edition in which Morocco won 3-0 and went on to finish as group winners, while Tanzania ended bottom of the group.
Tanzania are facing a host nation for the second time at AfCON, having previously lost 1-3 to Nigeria in Lagos in their opening match of the 1980 tournament.
Tanzania’s only win over Morocco came in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier, a 3-1 home victory on March 24, 2013 in Dar es Salaam in which Thomas Ulimwengu and a brace from Mbwana Samatta secured the win, while Youssef El Arabi scored Morocco’s consolation goal in the 90th minute.
Morocco won the return fixture 2-1 at home in June 2013, though neither team qualified for the tournament in Brazil. The teams were also drawn together in qualifying for the 2012 AfCON, with Morocco winning 1-0 away and 3-1 at home to qualify ahead of Tanzania.
They later met in qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with Morocco winning 2-0 away on November 21, 2023, Hakim Ziyech scoring in the 28th minute before Bakari Mwamnyeto put through his own goal in the 54th.
Morocco won the return fixture 2-0 in Oujda on March 25, 2025, with goals from Nayef Aguerd in the 51st minute and Brahim Diaz from the penalty spot in the 58th.
Their most recent meeting came in the quarter-finals of the AfCON 2024 on August 22, 2025, where Morocco went on to win the title after defeating co-hosts Tanzania 1-0 — Oussama Lamiloui scoring the winning goal in the 65th minute.
This is Tanzania’s fifth meeting with a North African team at AfCON. They lost their first three such encounters against Egypt in 1980, Algeria in 2019 and Morocco in 2023, before drawing with Tunisia at the this 2025 edition.
Tanzania have conceded a goal in each of their four AfCON matches against North African opposition and Morocco are the second team Tanzania have faced twice at AfCON, after Nigeria, whom they met in 1980 and again at the current edition.
Meanwhile, Group D winners and unbeaten, Senegal, will face Group E best third-place finishers, Sudan tomorrow, which will be the first meeting between the two sides at the AfCON.
Overall, they have met seven times previously, with Senegal undefeated, recording four wins and three draws — with four of those seven meetings having taken place in 2025 and making this their 5th encounter in under a year.
Senegal have outscored Sudan 8-1 across their previous seven meetings. They have conceded just one goal, which came in a 1-1 draw in the third-place play-off at the 2024 CHAN tournament on August 29, 2025 which Senegal won 4–2 on penalties.
Senegal
The teams also met in the group stage of the 2024 CHAN, where the match ended 0–0. They were drawn together in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers — their first meeting, which Sudan hosted on March 22, 2025, ended in a goalless draw.
The return match on September 5, 2025 saw Senegal win 2–0, with goals from Kalidou Koulibaly and Pape Matar Sarr. Koulibaly will not play in this match as he was red carded in their last group match.
Senegal qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as group winners, ahead of Sudan, who finished third in Group B behind DR Congo. The two sides were also paired together in the 2019 AfCON qualifiers in which the Teranga Lions finished top of Group A, with Madagascar advancing alongside them to Egypt 2019.
Equatorial Guinea placed third, while Sudan finished bottom after losing five of their six matches. Senegal won both qualifier meetings, 3-0 at home on October 13, 2018 and 1-0 away on October 16 2018.
Senegal have never lost to east African opponents at AfCON, having played five matches, winning four and drawing one. Sudan are the 4th east African team Senegal have faced at the tournament, after Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
Sudan
Previous AfCON group-stage meetings against east African teams saw Senegal defeat Ethiopia 5-1 in 1965 and Kenya 3-0 in 1992, 2004 and 2019. Their only failure to win came in a 0–0 draw against Kenya in 1990.
This is Senegal’s second knockout-stage meeting against an east African team, after a 1-0 victory over Uganda in the 2019 Round of 16 and across six AfCON matches against east African opposition, Senegal have scored 15 goals, conceded just one, and kept five clean sheets.
Sudan are facing a west African opponent for the 11th time at AfCON, with a record of P10 W3 D1 L6. Their only victories against such teams came with a 4-0 win over Nigeria in the 1963 group stage, a 1-0 win over Ghana in the 1970 final, and a 2-1 victory over Burkina Faso in the 2012 group stage.
Their only draw against a west African side was a 0–0 result against Guinea-Bissau in the 2021 group stage and Sudan have lost their last two AfCON matches against Nigeria in the 2021 group stage and Burkina Faso at the 2025 edition.—Reporting by CAFonline; edited by Maravi Express
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