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Hosts Morocco Face Underdogs Comoros in Historic AFCON 2025 Opening Match

Hosts Morocco and Comoros will meet in the opening match of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 on Sunday, marking the tournament’s curtain-raiser and the second AFCON finals clash between the two nations.

Morocco enter the tournament as one of the clear favorites, ranked 11th in the FIFA World Rankings, the highest-ranked African nation, while Comoros sit at 108th. Historically, the matchup favors the Atlas Lions: the teams have met four times, with Morocco winning three and drawing once.

Previous Meetings and AFCON History

Their first encounters came during 2019 AFCON qualifiers, where Morocco won 1–0 at home before drawing 2–2 away in Comoros. Both teams later qualified for the 2019 AFCON in Egypt.

The sides also met at the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon, where Morocco claimed a comfortable 2–0 group-stage victory in Yaoundé, thanks to goals from Selim Amallah and Zakaria Aboukhlal.

This opening match will mark:

- Morocco’s 20th AFCON appearance and fifth consecutive finals

- Comoros’ second AFCON appearance, following their historic debut in 2021

Opening Match Trends Favor the Hosts

This will be the 35th opening match in AFCON history, and statistics strongly favor the hosts:

- Hosts or co-hosts are unbeaten in opening matches in the last 15 editions

- The last host to lose an opener was Burkina Faso in 1998

- The last three hosts all won their opening games (Egypt 2019, Cameroon 2021, Côte d’Ivoire 2023)

Morocco themselves have won their last three AFCON opening matches and kept clean sheets in each of their last five tournament openers.

Morocco: Favorites With Championship Pedigree

Morocco are AFCON champions once (1976), runners-up in 2004, and third-place finishers on multiple occasions. They also arrive with huge confidence after becoming the first African nation to reach a FIFA World Cup semifinal at Qatar 2022.

As hosts, they qualified automatically but still dominated qualifying—winning all six matches, scoring 26 goals and conceding just two, with Brahim Díaz finishing as top scorer.

Comoros: Rising Underdogs With Nothing to Lose

Comoros are enjoying a golden era in their football history. They qualified undefeated from a group featuring Tunisia, Gambia, and Madagascar, boasting their best-ever defensive record in AFCON qualifying.

Despite being underdogs, they reached the Round of 16 on debut in 2021, including a famous win over Ghana, and will once again aim to defy expectations against a tournament host.

Head-to-Head Snapshot

- Overall: Morocco (P4 W3 D1 L0)

- AFCON: Morocco (P1 W1), Comoros (P1 L1)

- Last AFCON Meeting: Morocco 2–0 Comoros (2021, Group Stage)

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