AFCON 2025: Prize Money Breakdown

For the 35th run of the always-competitive continental tournament, teams will head to Morocco for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

While it is usually a winter-set tournament, this will be the first time that the AFCON is staged over the New Year period, from 21 December to 18 January.

With national teams summoning their best players from around the world, just how much prize money is on the line at AFCON 2025, and which teams look to be in the best position to win the tournament?

AFCON 2025 Prize Money Chart

As published by the governing body, Confédeération Africaine de Football (CAF), there will be a $32 million (£24m) total prize pool, with teams getting the values in this AFCON prize money chart at each stage:

The six teams that finish 4th in each of the six groups get $500,000 (£375k), but the two that finish third and don’t quite qualify for the Last 16 – based on the third-place rankings – will get a bump to $700,000 (£526k).

From there, eight teams will get a Last 16 payout, four more get paid for losing in the Quarter-Finals, two get $2.5 million (£1.9m) in prize money for getting to the Semi-Finals, and the finalists get $7 million (£5.3m) or $4 million (£3m).

The hosts and defending champions of the African Nations Championship – the other major continental tournament that runs biennially to AFCON – will have their eyes on one of the larger multi-million prizes on offer.

Having defeated Madagascar in the CHAN Final over the summer, Morocco leads the football odds at 5/2 to win AFCON 2025, but they’ll face some stiff competition in Group A from Mali, Zambia, and Comoros.

Leading the Odds to Win AFCON 2025

As noted above, the Atlas Lions enter AFCON 2025 as the hosts and favourites, headlined by top-class talents in Achraf Hakimi, Brahim Díaz, Ismael Saibari, and Bilal El Khannouss.

Their main rivals for the biggest cut of the AFCON prize money, according to the sports betting lines, will be Egypt. Mo Salah may have fallen out of favour at Liverpool, but he’ll remain the talisman of the Pharaohs over the winter.

He’ll be hoping for some help from Omar Marmoush up top as well as from the seasoned backline and midfield contingent behind them. The seven-time winners of AFCON get odds of 11/2 to ruin the party for Morocco.

Keeping in the North Africa region, Algeria are also expected to be in the race. At 6/1, the upstart Fennecs entrust their young talents Rayan Aït-Nouri, Amine Gouiri, Anis Hadj Moussa, and Mohamed Amoura to cause an upset.

Looking to the West Coast powerhouses, Senegal at 6/1 just pip Nigeria at 10/1 among the dark horses – the latter of which missed out on World Cup qualification in a loss to DR Congo.

The Lions of Teranga boast a lot of speed in attack with Nicolas Jackson, Ismaïla Sarr, and Iliman Ndiaye, while keeping the midfield very well anchored by Pape Matar Sarr, Habib Diarra, Lamine Camara, or Pape Gueye.

Senegal’s attack looks strong, but so does Nigeria’s. Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, the towering Tolu Arokodare, Victor Boniface, Alex Iwobi, and Samuel Chukwueze can wreck havoc going forward.

Beyond those assumed frontrunners, the odds expect Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Tunisia, and Cameroon to pose a challenge in Morocco this winter.

How Does AFCON Prize Money Compare to Other Competitions?

The 2025 AFCON prize money pool has gradually grown over the years and now eclipses the cash offered to the winners of the Oceania Nations Cup, the Asian Cup, and the Gold Cup – which pays $1 million (£860k) to the winners.

Even so, the champions of the UEFA Euros gets £24.7 million, the Copa América team that comes out on top gets £12 million, and even the Arab Cup is now offering a £27.13 million total prize pool to beat the AFCON prize pool.

Regardless of the prize money AFCON has to offer, each team will look to go all out in Morocco to become the champions of Africa.