Yasser Ibrahim Farag of Egypt celebrates goal with teammates during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations AFCON match between Egypt and Benin at the Adrar Stadium, Agadir on the 05 January 2026 ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Friday Jan 09, 2026. 13:00
Egypt will be determined to end Ivory Coast’s defence of the title when the two African giants collide in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 9:00 pm CAT.
The quarter-final match is set to take place at the Adrar Stadium in Agadir, which is one of the major urban centres of Morocco, located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean near the foot of the Atlas Mountains.
The Pharaohs progressed to the last eight after thrashing Benin 3-1 after extra-time in a Round of 16 match on January 5, extending their unbeaten run to 18 matches across all competitions under coach Hossam Hassan.
The victory kept Egypt’s dream of winning their first AFCON title since 2010, which would also extend their record as the most decorated national team in African football, having won seven continental trophies since the competition’s inception in 1957.
“We will start preparations for the quarter-finals and we are ready to face any opponent,” Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan said.
“There are no easy teams in Africa. Playing in Europe has improved the African players, making every game challenging. In football, you can’t rely on history – only performance matters.”
Egypt left-back Mohamed Hamdy has ruled out for the remainder of the tournament and Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan is being monitored by the Pharaohs’ medical team after the duo picked up injuries during the Benin match.
Ivory Coast, on the other hand, were in a rampant mood in their Round of 16 clash against Burkina Faso as they claimed a 3-0 win on January 6, as the defending champions extended their unbeaten run to five matches across all competitions.
The emphatic win sent a stern warning to the Elephants’ fellow quarter-finalists as they look to become the first nation to win back-to-back AFCON titles since Egypt did a three-peat – winning the 2006, 2008 and 2010 continental trophies.
“We haven’t yet thought about the match or the strategy for Saturday against Egypt. We take things step by step. We didn’t want to look ahead because we first had to qualify by beating Burkina Faso,” Ivory Coast head coach Emerson Fae said.
“Now that we’ve won, we’ll enjoy tonight and rest well over the next two days. On Friday we’ll prepare for Saturday’s match in the best possible way, look at the strengths and weaknesses of this Egyptian team and try to impose our rhythm.”
Odilon Kossounou sustained an injury during the game against Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast medical team will be sweating over the defender’s fitness ahead of the crucial match.
There are no suspension worries for both Egypt and Ivory Coast, who will meet in a repeat of the 2006 AFCON final.
The two teams have met 22 times across all competitions since their maiden meeting in February 1970.
The Pharaohs have registered 12 victories compared to the Elephants’ seven victories, while three games ended in a draw.
The last meeting between the two teams ended in a 0-0 draw and Egypt won 5-4 on penalties in the 2021 AFCON Round of 16 match played at the Japoma Stadium in January 2022.
The winner between Egypt and Ivory Coast will lock horns with either Senegal or Mali in the semi-finals on January 14 at the Tangier Grand Stadium in Tangier, Morocco.