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Benin are aiming to impress at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Morocco as the squad prepare for their fifth appearance at the continent’s biggest football tournament.<\/b><\/p>\n
The Cheetahs made their finals debut in 2004 but recent years have been challenging, with the team missing out on qualification for both the 2021 and 2023 editions.<\/p>\n
After coming close to reaching the Fifa World Cup for the very first time, assistant coach and head scout Tunde Adelakun hopes to draw inspiration from their best-ever Afcon performance in 2019, when Benin reached the quarter-finals.<\/a><\/p>\n “I want my team to play good football, and let the clubs know that it was worth it to release [the players] at a very difficult time of the season,” Adelakun told BBC Sport Africa.<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n Head coach Gernot Rohr has named a squad largely made up of players who impressed during qualifying for 2026 World Cup, with captain Steve Mounie leading the team.<\/p>\n That campaign saw Benin come agonisingly close to securing a historic first-ever spot at the World Cup, only to suffer late heartbreak on the final matchday against Nigeria, ultimately losing out to group winners South Africa.<\/a><\/p>\n The West Africans now arrive in Morocco, where they will face Senegal, DR Congo and Botswana in Group D, eager to turn disappointment into a memorable Afcon outing.<\/p>\n “Losing out [on] qualification for the World Cup was a bitter pill we found really hard to swallow,” Adelakun said.<\/p>\n “We’ve put it 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.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n