The 2025 TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) will witness an epic showdown on Tuesday night when Morocco locks horns with Ivory Coast in the semi-final.
The highly anticipated semi-final showdown will be played at the El Bachir Stadium in Mohammedia.
Tonight’s contest will be the second meeting between Morocco and Cote d’Ivoire at the TotalEnergies CAF U17 AFCON.
Their previous clash was also at the semi-final stage in 2013 where Cote d’Ivoire secured a 2-1 win at the end of the game.
Morocco have only faced West African teams in the last four. In addition to losing to Cote d’Ivoire in 2013, they overcame Mali on penalties after a 0-0 draw in 2023, winning the shoot-out 6-5.
Morocco are aiming to reach back-to-back finals at U17 level after they were runners up in 2023. The last team to reach consecutive finals was Mali, who did so in 2015 and 2017.
Morocco are looking to become the fifth host nation to reach the final. Previous hosts to have made it to the deciding game are Gambia in 2005, Togo in 2007, Algeria in 2009 and Rwanda in 2011.
Cote d’Ivoire are facing a tournament host for the third time. Previously they lost against Rwanda in the 2011 semi-finals and won against Morocco in the 2013 Semi-final. All of Cote d’Ivoire’s games against tournament hosts have been in the last-4.
The semi-final match between Morocco and Ivory Coast today will kick off 19:00 GMT.
