South Africa captain Ronwen Williams targets AFCON 2025 glory in Morocco

South Africa captain Ronwen Williams has set sights on securing the 2025 Africa Cup of Nation title with the Bafana Bafana.

The 35th edition of the continental showpiece will commence on December 21, 2025, with 24 countries expected to battle it out for the trophy in Morocco.

The Bafana Bafana are paired in the same group against record AFCON holders, Egypt, Angola, and Zimbabwe at the continental showpiece. They will open their account on December 22 against Angola.

Despite acknowledging difficulties in annexing the trophy, Williams, who plies his trade for Mamelodi Sundowns is optimistic about his outfit chances.

“Ja, of course, that will be the expectations now, that’s the expectation that we have for ourselves – that we want to go one better,” the Bafana captain said this week.

“But is it going to be easy? No, everyone is probably thinking the same like us that they want to win it. Morocco have been the host nation, they don’t want to let their people down.”

Williams’ unrestrained desire to see Bafana win this continental trophy stems from their third-place finish last time around in Ivory Coast.

“So, it’s not going to be easy, we’re going to have to double our efforts, have the right mindset – a killer mindset – in each and every game, from the first until the last, and just use our experience that we gained in the last AFCON to build on what we’ve done.

“But there’s going to be no easy games, everyone believes they can win it now – you read the press conference from all the coaches and captains and you see what they say, they all believe they can do good things.

“So we know we’ve got a target on our back now, last time we went there no one took notice of us and no one gave us a chance, but now you can see everyone wants to beat us because we’ve beaten the big boys in the last two years – Morocco, Nigeria.

“So it’s going to be tough, but I think my boys are ready, and I think we’re going to go out there and come back happy.”