Morocco are seeking their first African title in 50 years and will draw from decades of disappointment as they seek to end their drought on home soil.
That also means there will be pressure on them, and with Senegal having been champion as recently as the 2021 edition, their opponents know how to win finals.
Here are some key statistics ahead of the game.
Record number of games
Morocco will be playing their seventh match at the 2025 Cup of Nations, the most they have played at a single edition. When crowned champions in 1976 and finishing runners-up in 2004, they played six matches in each tournament. They have won four matches at the current edition, their joint-highest total alongside 1976 and 2004. Morocco are featuring in their second Cup of Nations final and first since 2004. When they won the tournament 50 years ago, the final phase was played as a round-robin mini-league with no final. In their only previous final 22 years ago, they faced hosts Tunisia and lost 2-1.
West African woes
At the current finals, Morocco have already played two West African teams and have failed to win in open play, drawing with Mali in the group stages and winning on penalties against Nigeria in the semi-finals. They have won just one of their last four matches against West African teams, a group-stage win over Ghana in 2021 (D3). Their last two knockout matches against West African teams, Nigeria at the current edition and Benin in the 2021 Round of 16, have been decided on penalties. They defeated Nigeria and lost to Benin. Their last outright knockout-stage win over a West African team came against Mali in the 2004 semi-finals, a 4-0 victory. There have been eight previous finals between teams from West and North Africa, with four wins for each.
Miserly defence
Morocco have conceded one goal at the current edition, the fewest they have conceded after six matches at a Cup of Nations. Their five clean sheets is their most in a single edition, and Yassine Bounou is the first Moroccan goalkeeper to keep that many clean sheets at one tournament. One more and he would become the first goalkeeper from any country to keep six clean sheets in a single Cup of Nations. Bounou has kept a total of 11 clean sheets in 17 Cup of Nations games. Overall, Morocco have now gone 477 minutes without conceding a goal.
Deadly Diaz
Brahim Díaz scored in each of Morocco’s first five matches but failed to score in the semi-final against Nigeria. Another goal for Díaz would see him draw level with Ahmed Faras as Morocco’s joint top scorer in the Cup of Nations with six goals. It would also make him the second Moroccan, after Faras, to score in six matches at a single finals. Diaz has recorded eight shots on target in the 2025 edition, the most of any Moroccan player.
Superior to Senegal
Morocco have won four of the last six games between the sides, with Senegal’s only victory in this period coming in the form of a 1-0 win on 25 May 2012 in a friendly match. In Morocco’s only Cup of Nations title in 1976, they faced Senegal in the first round of the qualifiers, defeating them 5-2 on aggregate. Morocco won the first leg 4-0 in Fez, while Senegal won the second leg 2-1.
Advantage to the hosts
Host nations have competed in 14 Cup of Nations finals down the years, winning 11 of those and losing three. Two of those defeats, Nigeria against Cameroon in 2000 and Libya against Ghana in 1982, were on penalties, while Tunisia lost to Ghana in 1965. The latter was the only time a host nation has lost the final in open play without the need for penalties.
