CK Updates
LIVE: AFCON 2025 – 03 January 2026
Saturday Jan 03, 2026. 22:54
Join AfricanFootball.com for LIVE updates from all 52 matches of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, as 24 teams battle for glory in Morocco from 21 December to 18 January.
Today’s matches:
18h00 – Senegal 3-1 Sudan – Match Centre
21h00 – Mali v Tunisia – Match Centre
Updates:
96’ – The penalty will stand.
92’ – Mali has been awarded a penalty and a chance to level matters after Yassine Meriah is blown for handball. Drama in the dying stages in Casablanca as VAR reviews the call.
89’ – GOAL! Mali 0-1 Tunisia. Substitutes combine as Elias Saad chips the ball over the top of the Malian defence for substitute Firas Chaouat, who heads Tunisia in front in the dying stages.
79’ – Hannibal Mejbri’s freekick tests Diarra, forcing the goalkeeper into a diving save to deny the Eagles of Carthage an opener.
70’ Despite their numerical disadvantage, Mali are pushing for an opener and have been probing and testing the Tunisian defence. It looks like the fixture is headed for extra time.
56’ – Tunisia’s Ali Abdi nearly catches Djigui Diarra out, curling his corner towards the keeper in goal who is forced to punch it behind to avoid conceding.
46’ The second half between Mali and Tunisia is underway in Casablanca.
Neither side registered a shot on target in the first period. Tunisia will be looking to exploit its advantage in numbers.
52’- Half-time: Mali 0-0 Tunisia. Tunisia have been applying pressure but have been unable to penetrate the 10-man Malian defence. A feisty end-to-end battle filled with physicality that looks likely to continue in the second period.
47’ – Hadj Mahmoud misses a chance for Tunisia after a cross from captain Ferjani Sassi. He is judged to have pushed Ousmane Camara to the floor to get open, but misses his shot regardless.
41’ – Action resumes after a delay in play as Mali goalkeeper Djigui Diarra went down and appeared dazed after being forced off his line to make a clearance through a sea of bodies. Neither side has found the back of the net yet.
29’ – Play is back underway, Mejbri is able to continue.
26’ – The Eagles have been reduced to 10 men. Referee Abongile Thom has given Woyo Coulibaly a straight red card for a dangerous challenge on Hannibal Mejbri.
11’ – Tunisia are forced to make an early change as Dylan Bronn is taken off due to injury and replaced by Yassine Meriah in the backline.
4’ – Mahamadou Doumbia of Mali receives an early yellow card. He’ll have to be cautious going forward with 86 minutes still to play.
1’ – We are underway at the Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca as Mali kick-off.
Starting line-ups:
Mali: D. Diarra, W. Coulibaly, A. Diaby, O. Camara, A. Dante, Y. Bissouma, A. Dieng, M. Sangare, L. Coulibaly, M. Doumbia, L. Sinayoko
Tunisia: Y. Valery, E. Skhiri, F. Sassi, I. Gharbi, H. Mejbri, M. Talbi, A. Dahmen, H. Mastouri, H. Mahmoud, A. Abdi, B. Bronn
After missing out in Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia is returning to the knockout stage. The Carthage Eagles have never lost in their previous two round of 16 appearances, but have conceded in every game so far at this edition.
Mali is making its 10th appearance in the knockout stage but is on a four-game winless run at the tournament, having failed to win any of its group games. In the last edition’s round of 16, the Eagles defeated Burkina Faso 2-1.
Their group E fixtures in 2019 and 2023 ended in 1-1 draws, but Mali claimed a 1-1 win in 2021 and a 2-0 win in 1994 in group play. This will be their first meeting in the tournament’s knockout stages.
This will be the fifth meeting between the two sides at the continental showpiece as they match-up for a fourth consecutive edition.
Familiar foes Mali and Tunisia meet in the AFCON round of 16 at the Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca.
Full-time – Senegal 3 (P. Gueye 29′, 45+3′, Mbaye 77′) Sudan 1 (Abdallah 6′). The Lions of Teranga go one better than they did at AFCON 2023 by reaching the quarter-finals at the expense of the Falcons of Jediane. It wasn’t a vintage performance from Pape Thiaw’s side, but they showed their fighting spirit by overturning a 1-0 deficit to keep their title hopes alive.
90+1′ – Raouf threatens to set up a grandstand finish with a powerful shot that is deflected just wide of goal.
90′ – Senegal’s first-choice goalkeeper is okay to continue and the fourth official indicates an additional seven minutes will be played at the end of the second half.
87 – Some concern for Thiaw as Mendy takes a knock after colliding with Moussa Niakhate, who made a fione challenge to deny Abdel Raouf a shot on goal.
77′ – Goal! Senegal 3-1 Sudan. And just as I say that the Lions of Teranga score their third goal. Teenager Ibrahim Mbaye makes a name for himelf with a fine finish from inside the area after being played in and creating a yard for for a shot.
76′ – Senegal haven’t really got going in the second half, with Sudan controlling the ball for longer spells than they did in the opening 45 minutes.
67′ – Diatta attempts to catch Alnil off his line after cutting inside from the right and chipping the ball towards the top left corner of the goal, but the ball clears the target by a good distance.
63′ – Boulaye Dia squanders a glorious chance to extend their lead as he blazes over from close range after latching onto a flick-on from his team-mate.
61′ – Appiah is forced to make his first change of the game as Altayeb Abdelrazeg replaces the injured Mustafa Karshoum in defence.
58′ – Almost an hour played and Sudan have enjoyed plenty of the ball in the opening stages of the second half and fashioned a good scoring chance already.
48′ – Sudan almost restore parity shortly after the restart as Abdallah receives the ball in an unmarked position and forces Mendy into an expert save with a low shot.
46′ – Sudan get the ball rolling in the second half in Tangier.
Half-time – Senegal 2 (P. Gueye 29′, 45+3′) Sudan 1 (Abdallah 6′). Thiaw’s side have recovered well after conceeding in the sixth minute. They have bossed the possession and managed to create three times as many chances as Sudan, who have put numbers behind the ball in an attempt to stifle Senegal.
45+3′ – Goal! Senegal 2-1 Sudan. The Lions of Teranga have turned things around just before the break. Gueye registers his second goal of the game with a curler from inside the area that beats Alnil.
45′ – There will seven additional minutes played at the end of the first half following that lengthy VAR check.
43′ – Sarr capitalises on sloppy defending to fire home, but the goal is ruled out for offside.
35′ – Ismaïla Sarr is brought down by the on-rushing Munjed Alnil inside the box and the referee points to the spot. However, the assistant’s flag goes up and it appears that the Crystal Palace winger was offside which is confirmed by VAR.
29′ – Goal! Senegal 1-1 Sudan. The Lions of Teranga get themselves back in the game as Pape Gueye is picked out on the edge of the box by Mane and drills his shot into the bottom right corner of the net.
25′ – It’s almost 2-0 to Sudan as Mohamed Eisa creates space for himself inside the box and fires a shot towards goal from an angle, but Edouard Mendy is on hand to make the save.
16′ – Mane fails to trouble the goalkeeper moments later with an effort from outside the area that clears the crossbar by some distance following a corner.
15′ – Abdallah tries his luck from range once more after gaining some confidence from his screamer, but the ball sails well over the crossbar on this occasion.
12′ – Krepin Diatta tests the Sudan goalkeeper from a direct free-kick in a promising position. Senegal are ramping up the pressure in their search for an equaliser.
10′ – That was the first goal from a Sudanese player in the tournament after their winner against Equatorial Guinea came from a Saul Coco own-goal.
9′ – Senegal look to respond and Sadio Mane carries the ball into the box from the left and gets off a shot that is well saved by Munjed Alnil.
6′ – Goal! Senegal 0-1 Sudan. The Falcons of Jediane get off to a dream start as Aamir Abdallah receives a pass from Walieldin Khedr and sends a shot arcing over Edouard Mendy into top left corner of the net from outside the area.
1′ – Senegal get proceedings underway at the Tangier Grand Stadium.
What was said:
Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw: “Our next objective is to correct the mistakes we made in our group stage match before we go into the Round of 16 because on that stage there will be no rooms for errors which will be published. We will use the next few days to address these problems.”
Sudan striker Mohamed Eisa: “All the pressure is going to be on Senegal. They’re expected to go 1-0 or 2-0 up in the first 10 minutes, but we’re not going to try and let them do that. We’re going to have our own game plan and try and do something. They are the favourites to win the whole competition but we are not scared of nobody.”
The Falcons of Jediane failed to win any of their three matches in Group E, but still managed to afvance to the round of 16 as one of the best-ranked third-placed teams. Kwesi Appiah’s side finished on three points courtesy of their 1-0 victory over Equatorial Guinea, having lost their other two games against Algeria (3-0) and Burkina Faso (2-0).
Pape Thiaw’s side are still unbeaten in Morocco after beating both Botswana and Benin 3-0, while they were held to a 1-1 draw by DR Congo which saw claim top spot in Group D.
Senegal and Sudan should be fairly familiar to one another, having also met during qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, when the Lions of Teranga ran out 2-0 victors on 5 September 2025 after the reverse fixture ended in a 0-0 draw six months earlier.
Senegal v Sudan starting line-ups:
Senegal: E, Mendy, K. Diatta, A. Seck, M. Niakhate, I. Jakobs, H. Diarra, I. Gueye, P. Gueye, I. Sarr, N. Jackson, S. Mane.
Sudan: M. Alnil, S. Barglan, M. Ering, M. Karshoum, B. Khamis, A. Taifour, A. Abdalla, W. Khedr, A. Abdallah, M. Eisa, M. Abdelrahman.
No side will relish coming up against Calvert-Lewin and this aggressive Leeds outfit at Elland Road this season.
In fact, only Arsenal (52), Manchester City (50), Manchester United (45) and Bournemouth (37) have won more Premier League points in 2026 than Leeds United (35), with the Whites suffering just a single defeat across their past 13 league matches.
Yet Newcastle‘s implosion was remarkable as a young team were bullied and outfought.
Newcastle had previously made a good start under head coach Matthias Jaissle, following so much change in the summer, and were unbeaten in their opening five games in all competitions before this reality check.
But they have faced more shots than any other side in the Premier League.
However clinical Newcastle were in the opening weeks of the campaign, they mustered just eight efforts on target against Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Bournemouth before their trip to Elland Road.
That was a dangerous cocktail going into this game.
What was most galling, though, was the visitors’ failure to match Leeds‘ bite at a raucous Elland Road.
Jaissle’s side crumbled and conceded three goals in a chastening 14-minute period in the first half.
It was a night the German manager swore in his post-match news conference to illustrate how low he felt.
“I don’t want to point fingers and point any players out tonight,” he said. “We were not matching as a team the level of intensity, the level of duel behaviours, the level of physicality.
“This is something we need to bring on the pitch in every match. This is non-negotiable. It should be the basic fundamentals of football.
“These are young lads. The learning curve needs to be fast.”
For Calvert-Lewin and Leeds, however, this was a night to remember.
Gary Hamilton has been linked with most Irish Premiership vacancies since he left his role at Glenavon in 2023.
Hamilton made 132 appearances and scored 70 goals for the east Belfast side and is already well respected at the club.
The 45-year-old has always had an eye for bringing in and developing younger talent, a skill which would benefit the Glens.
During his almost 12-year spell at the Lurgan Blues, he won the Irish Cup twice in 2014 and 2016, registered four third-place finishes and European football.
Hamilton currently manages Conference League side Ballymacash Rangers, who have won the Steel and Sons for the first time during his tenure.
A manager such as Hamilton, who has secured plenty of silverware during his career, will certainly tick a lot of the boxes that Glentoran would be hoping for in a new manager.
Whereas players in sports like football earn a salary based on a contract with the team that employs them, and athletes in individual sports like tennis and golf can earn a great deal from prize money at major tournaments, athletics competitors rely much more heavily on personal sponsorships and endorsements.
That is because they are paid no direct annual salary, and the only standardised prize money on offer is $50,000 (£37,000) for winning gold in one of the 48 track and field events at the Olympics.
That prize money was only introduced at the 2024 Games in Paris, and is paltry compared to the potential millions in winnings on offer in other major sports.
Some nations – including the USA – also choose to pay athletes who win medals from their own resources, but Britain does not.
Instead, athletes are awarded funding and grants by UK Sport, with the majority of the money coming from the National Lottery.
UK Sport ranks athletes by how likely they are to win medals at major events, and gives more funding to those whose chances it believes are better.
Athletes typically use that funding to pay for training camps, equipment, travel and, in some cases, personal support staff like physiotherapists, nutritionists and chefs.
So why would athletes be instructed to wear national team kit at the Ultimates?
The Ultimate Championship is billed as three fast-paced evenings with a record $10m (£7.4m) prize pot on offer for the biggest stars in athletics.
The condensed schedule and focus on star names is designed to appeal to viewers on television and social media – the latter likely playing a role in the focus on short, sharp bursts of action which can capture attention online.
Most viewers of athletics are used to watching athletes compete while wearing national kit at the Olympics and World Championships. Put simply, the use of a national kit makes it easier for the casual viewer to quickly spot who they should be rooting for and feel invested in the action.
But Kerr’s comments have highlighted the fact that something which may well improve the viewing experience can be felt as a direct financial negative by the athletes themselves.
With the next edition of the Ultimate Championship set to take place in September 2028, shortly after the Olympics in Los Angeles, the battle between brands and country could continue to heat up.
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CK Updates9 hours agoIrish Premiership: Who will replace Declan Devine as Glentoran manager?
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CK Updates3 hours agoLeeds 4-1 Newcastle: Is ‘unplayable’ Calvert-Lewin in line for England recall?
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CK Updates15 hours agoJosh Kerr: Ultimate Championship 1500m winner ramps up debate over country vs brands kit