The Benin national football team arrives in Morocco for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations carrying both ambition and recent disappointment. Ranked 92nd globally, the Cheetahs face formidable Group D opponents including Senegal (19th) and DR Congo (56th), alongside Botswana.
This tournament marks Benin’s fifth appearance at Africa’s premier football event, their first since missing both the 2021 and 2023 editions. The squad draws inspiration from their historic 2019 campaign where they reached the quarter-finals despite not winning any group stage matches—becoming the first team to advance to knockouts without victory.
Assistant coach Tunde Adelakun acknowledges the challenge ahead: “I’d love to win the tournament. The journey will be tough [but] what I’ve got at the moment is seven Afcon finals to navigate.” The technical staff, led by head coach Gernot Rohr, has selected players who impressed during the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, where Benin came agonizingly close to historic qualification before a final-match defeat to Nigeria.
The team features emerging talents of Nigerian descent including Junior Olaitan and Tosin Aiyegun, who have become influential figures. Adelakun, himself Nigerian and former member of Rohr’s Super Eagles staff, notes: “These are players who have got the DNA of Nigeria… playing in a team that has what it takes to actually go out there and make impressions.”
Benin opens their campaign against DR Congo on December 23rd, facing a team that recently defeated African heavyweights Cameroon and Nigeria in World Cup qualifiers. Despite the challenging group, Adelakun remains optimistic: “We’ve put [World Cup disappointment] behind us, there’s no regrets [and] we’re proud of what we did. It’s time to get onto the African stage and prove to the world what we are made of.”