Senegal, group winners and unbeaten in Group D, will face Group E third-place finishers Sudan in the Round of 16 at the 2025 AFCON at the Grande Stade de Tangier Saturday at 5pm Nigerian time.
This will be the first meeting between the two sides at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Overall, they have met seven times previously, with Senegal undefeated, recording four wins and three draws. Four of those seven meetings have taken place in 2025, making this their fifth encounter in under a year.
Senegal have outscored Sudan 8–1 across their previous seven meetings. They have conceded just one goal, which came in a 1-1 draw in the third-place play-off at the 2024 CHAN tournament on 29 August 2025. Senegal won that match 4–2 on penalties.
The teams also met in the group stage of the 2024 CHAN, where the match ended 0–0.
They were drawn together in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Their first meeting, with Sudan hosting on 22 March 2025, ended in a goalless draw. The return match on 5 September 2025 saw Senegal win 2–0, with goals from Kalidou Koulibaly and Pape Matar Sarr.
Senegal qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup as group winners, ahead of Sudan, who finished third in Group B behind DR Congo.
The two sides were also paired together in the 2019 AFCON qualifiers. Senegal finished top of Group A, with Madagascar advancing alongside them to Egypt 2019. Equatorial Guinea placed third, while Sudan finished bottom after losing five of their six matches. Senegal won both qualifier meetings, 3–0 at home on 13 October 2018 and 1–0 away on 16 October 2018.
Senegal have never lost to East African opponents at AFCON, having played five matches, winning four and drawing one. Sudan are the fourth East African team Senegal have faced at the tournament, after Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
Previous AFCON group-stage meetings against East African teams saw Senegal defeat Ethiopia 5–1 in 1965 and Kenya 3–0 in 1992, 2004 and 2019. Their only failure to win came in a 0–0 draw against Kenya in 1990.
This is Senegal’s second knockout-stage meeting against an East African team, after a 1–0 victory over Uganda in the 2019 Round of 16.
Across six AFCON matches against East African opposition, Senegal have scored 15 goals, conceded just one, and kept five clean sheets.
Sudan are facing a West African opponent for the 11th time at AFCON, with a record of P10 W3 D1 L6.
Their only victories against West African teams came with a 4–0 win over Nigeria in the 1963 group stage, a 1–0 win over Ghana in the 1970 final, and a 2–1 victory over Burkina Faso in the 2012 group stage. Their only draw against a West African side was a 0–0 result against Guinea-Bissau in the 2021 group stage.
Sudan have lost their last two AFCON matches against West African teams, against Nigeria in the 2021 group stage and Burkina Faso at the current edition.
