Three Manchester United players will leave the club this month to join their national teams for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast) and Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon) are set to participate in the prestigious international tournament.
All three players feature for teams who should progress to the knockout stage, which means the Red Devils must cope without them for several weeks.
Read on as we look at the schedule and draw for AFCON 2025, before showing you how to follow the fortunes of United’s trio of representatives over the next few weeks.
AFCON 2025 – Schedule
The 24 teams have been drawn into six groups of four. The opening stage is a round-robin format, before switching into a straight knockout from the last-16 onwards. Here are the key dates:
Group stage: December 21 – December 31.
Last 16: January 3 – January 6.
Quarter-finals: January 9 – January 10.
Semi-finals: January 14.
Third-place play-off: January 17.
Final: January 18.
AFCON 2025 – Draw & Fixtures
Here is the complete group stage draw for AFCON 2025:
Group A: Comoros, Mali, Morocco, Zambia.
Group B: Angola, Egypt, South Africa, Zimbabwe.
Group C: Nigeria, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda.
Group D: Benin, Botswana, DR Congo, Senegal.
Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan.
Group F: Cameroon, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique.
Groups A and F will garner the most attention from United fans. Morocco are the bookmakers’ favourites to win the trophy and should easily progress to the knockout stage.
Ivory Coast and Cameroon have been paired together in Group F, setting up a potential Diallo versus Mbeumo clash on December 28. Here are the fixtures featuring United players.
Sunday, December 21: Morocco vs Comoros (7.00 pm).
Wednesday, December 24: Ivory Coast vs Mozambique (5.30 pm), Cameroon vs Gabon (8.00 pm).
Friday, December 26: Morocco vs Mali (8.00 pm).
Sunday, December 28: Ivory Coast vs Cameroon (8.00 pm).
Monday, December 29: Zambia vs Morocco (7.00 pm).
Wednesday, December 31: Gabon vs Ivory Coast (7.00 pm), Mozambique vs Cameroon (7.00 pm).
How to watch Man United players at AFCON 2025
Live streams of AFCON 2025 can be found via the following outlets:
Algeria – EPTV
Angola – Televisao Publica de Angola
Belgium – Tipik, La Une
Benin – Benin TV
Bulgaria – Max Sport
Burkina Faso – RTB TV
Cameroon – CRTV Sports
Croatia – SportKlub
France – beIN SPORTS
Germany – Sportdigital
Greece – Hellanic Broadcasting Corporation
Equatorial Guinea – TVGE
Iran – Persiana Sports
Italy – Sportitalia, Solo Calcio
Ivory Coast – Canal+ Afrique
Mali – ORTM
Middle East & North Africa – beIN SPORTS
Netherlands – Ziggo Sport
Morocco – SNRT
Niger – Tele Sahel
Nigeria – BON, NTA
Portugal – sport tv
Spain – Movistar
Sub-Saharan Africa – SuperSport
Tanzania – Azam Sports
Uganda – NBC Sport
United Kingdom – Channel 4
United States – fuboTV
Zambia – ZNBC
AFCON 2025 – United trio eye continental title
Mazraoui, Diallo and Mbeumo will all be desperate to return from AFCON with a winner’s medal.
Morocco reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, but they have not won AFCON since 1976. Hosting the tournament places additional pressure on their shoulders.
Ivory Coast head into AFCON 2025 as the reigning champions and look guaranteed to mount a strong bid to retain the title.
However, no team has achieved that feat since Egypt completed a treble of successes in 2010, and the weight of expectation could be detrimental to their chances.
Cameroon have been rocked by an off-field row ahead of the tournament, and it will be intriguing to see how that situation unfolds before the big kick-off.