Sudan have qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The northeast African nation secured qualification after their goalless draw with Group F winners Angola on Monday. Second-placed Niger also won, 2-1 over Ghana, but missed qualification by a single point.
It is a remarkable achievement for Sudan, a nation of over 48million people which has been wracked by civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since April 2023.
Last month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Sudanese population were trapped in a “nightmare of violence, hunger, disease and displacement” and said almost 25m people in the country were in need of humanitarian assistance.
Sudan’s head coach is Ghanaian James Kwesi Appiah, who twice coached Ghana and was sacked from the position in 2020. His home country failed to qualify for AFCON on Friday after they drew 1-1 with Angola.
Sudan’s team is comprised solely of players based at African clubs, many of whom play for Sudanese rivals Al Hilal and Al Merrikh. Both are temporarily playing in the Mauritanian league due to the unstable political situation in Sudan.
Sudan won AFCON when they hosted the tournament in 1970, but have advanced beyond the group stage of the competition only once and have qualified for just three of the most recent 24 editions of the tournament.
Morocco will host the next one which is scheduled to begin on December 21, 2025 and run until January 18, 2026.
(DANIEL BELOUMOU OLOMO/AFP via Getty Images)
