Group A runners-up Mali face Group C runners-up Tunisia in the Round of 16 of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca on Saturday, 3 January. Kick-off is at 20h00 local time (19h00 GMT).

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 (W2 D2). 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.



PAST MEETINGS
OVERALL
Tunisia: P15 W7 D3 L5 GF13 GA11 GD+2
Mali: P15 W5 D3 L7 GF11 GA13 GD-2

AFCON ONLY
Tunisia: P4 W0 D2 L2 GF2 GA5 GD-3
Mali: P4 W2 D2 L0 GF5 GA2 GD+3

PAST AFCON MEETINGS
1994 – Group A (26 March 1994)
Tunisia 0 Mali 2 (Coulibaly 25’, Sidibe 35’)

2019 – Group E (28 June 2019)
Tunisia 1 (Khazri 70’) Mali 1 (Samassekou 60’)

2021 – Group F (12 January 2022)
Tunisia 0 Mali 1 (Kone pen 48’)

2023 – Group E (20 January 2024)
Tunisia 1 (Rafia 20’) Mali 1 (Sinayoko 10’)



Mali – Key Statistics
· Are into the knockout stages for a fourth successive tournament

· Have progressed beyond the group stages for a 10th time

· Have drawn 24 of their 62 AFCON matches, drawing more games than they have won (21) or lost (17)

· Are winless in their last four matches, their longest run since going six games without a win between 2015 and 2017 (D5 L1)

· Finished second in Group A behind Morocco

· Did not win any of their group matches, drawing 1–1 with Zambia and Morocco and 0–0 with Comoros

· Are on a four-match winless run at AFCON; last win was a 2–1 Round of 16 victory over Burkina Faso in 2023 (D3 L1)

· Are competing in the Round of 16 for a fourth time

· Lost 1–0 to Côte d’Ivoire in 2019; in 2021 drew 0–0 with Equatorial Guinea before losing 6–5 on penalties

· At the 2023 edition, progressed past the Round of 16 for the first time with a 2–1 win over Burkina Faso

· Victory would take them to the quarter-finals for a seventh time (previously 1994, 2002, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2023)

· Have been involved in four AFCON matches that went to extra time, three of which went to penalties

· Have won one of four AFCON matches decided in extra time in open play (4–3 v DR Congo, 1972 semi-final)

· Have contested three penalty shoot-outs at AFCON, winning two and losing one

· Defeated hosts Gabon on penalties in the 2012 quarter-finals and hosts South Africa on penalties in the 2013 quarter-finals

· Last penalty shoot-out was a 6–5 loss to Equatorial Guinea in the 2021 Round of 16

· Biggest knockout-stage defeats were 4–0 losses to Zambia (1994) and Morocco (2004), both semi-finals

· Amadou Haidara became the third Mali player sent off at AFCON in the last three editions

· No team has received more red cards than Mali in the last three AFCON tournaments (3)

· Sinayoko had eight touches in the Comoros penalty area; only Moussa Marega (9 v Tunisia in 2019) has had more for Mali since 2010

· Are yet to score a first-half goal at the current tournament

· Their last four AFCON goals have all come in the second half

· Nathan Gassama recorded 102 touches against Comoros

· Ousmane Camara completed 89 passes against Comoros



Tunisia – Key Statistics
· Reached the Round of 16 after missing out in 2023

· Have progressed from the group stages for the 14th time

· Only Egypt (20), Nigeria (19), Ghana (18), Côte d’Ivoire (17) and Cameroon (17) have progressed more often

· Conceded in all three group matches

· Beat Uganda 3–1, lost 3–2 to Nigeria, and drew 1–1 with Tanzania

· Have scored 105 AFCON goals and conceded 101 in 86 matches

· The draw with Tanzania was their 31st at AFCON

· Victory over Uganda was their only win in the last seven AFCON matches (D3 L3)

· Have kept just one clean sheet in their last seven AFCON matches

· Will compete in the Round of 16 for a third time

· Have never lost in the Round of 16 (W1 D1)

· Beat Ghana on penalties in the 2019 Round of 16 after a 1–1 draw

· Defeated Nigeria 1–0 in the 2021 Round of 16 through Youssef Msakni

· Progression would see them reach the quarter-finals for a 12th time

· Have reached the quarter-finals in five of their last seven AFCON appearances

· Have been involved in six penalty shoot-outs at AFCON, winning three and losing three

· Have lost four of their last five matches that went to extra time in open play

· Have been awarded two penalties at the current tournament, joint-most with Morocco and Mali

· Are the only one of those teams to have converted both

· Had missed their previous four penalties (excluding shoot-outs) before this edition

· Have avoided defeat in their last nine AFCON matches when scoring first

· Ismaël Gharbi scored his first AFCON goal against Tanzania

· Montassar Talbi attempted 79 passes against Tanzania, the most by a Tunisia player at the 2025 AFCON

· Taibi and Dylan Bronn each completed 70 passes in that match

· Have scored in their last three matches, their longest scoring run since 2013–2015