Group A runners-up Mali face Group C runners-up Tunisia in the Round of 16 of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca on Saturday. Kick-off is at 8pm Nigerian time.
This will be the 16th meeting between the two sides. Tunisia have won seven of the previous 15 encounters, Mali five, with three draws.
The teams have met four times previously at the Africa Cup of Nations, with Mali remaining unbeaten, two wins and two draws. This will be their first knockout-stage meeting, with all four previous AFCON clashes having come in the group stages.
They will be meeting at a fourth successive AFCON tournament, having also faced each other in 2019, 2021 and 2023, after first meeting at the finals in 1994.
Mali defeated hosts Tunisia 2–0 in their opening match of the 1994 AFCON, progressing to the knockout rounds alongside DR Congo, while Tunisia were eliminated at the group stage.
Their 2019 meeting ended 1–1 in their second group game, with both sides progressing – Mali as group winners and Tunisia as runners-up ahead of Angola and Mauritania.
At the 2021 edition, a 48th-minute penalty from Ibrahima Koné handed Mali a 1–0 win in Limbe in their opening Group F match. Both teams progressed, Mali as group winners and Tunisia in third place.
At the 2023 tournament, the sides met again in their second group game, which ended 1–1. Lassine Sinayoko gave Mali an early lead in the 10th minute before Hamza Rafia equalised for Tunisia in the 20th. Mali progressed as group winners along with South Africa and Namibia, while Tunisia were eliminated.
Mali have scored in all four of their AFCON meetings with Tunisia and kept clean sheets in their 2–0 and 1–0 wins in 1994 and 2021. Mali have scored first in all four AFCON meetings (W2 D2).
Three of Mali’s five AFCON goals against Tunisia have come in the first half. Four of the seven total goals scored in AFCON meetings between the sides have come in the first half, with only the 2019 and 2021 encounters producing second-half goals.
