{"id":61151,"date":"2025-09-03T20:42:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T20:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites"},"modified":"2025-09-03T21:27:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T21:27:14","slug":"mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites","title":{"rendered":"Mahrez Names Morocco as AFCON 2025 Favorites"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Algerian captain Riyad Mahrez has shared his thoughts ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), set to be hosted in Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

The former Manchester City winger and current player of Al-Ahli labeled the Atlas Lions as the outright favorites for the tournament but cautioned that playing on home soil will come with its own set of challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorocco are favorites; they\u2019re at home,\u201d Mahrez said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be under pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old, who lifted the AFCON trophy with Algeria in 2019, stressed that while Morocco\u2019s squad is stacked with top talent playing across Europe, the expectations of the home crowd could prove decisive in their campaign.<\/p>\n

Morocco head into the tournament as one of Africa\u2019s most in-form teams, having reached the semifinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. With stars like Achraf Hakimi, Hakim Ziyech, and Sofiane Amrabat in their ranks, they are widely tipped to mount a strong challenge.<\/p>\n

However, Mahrez\u2019s comments highlight the fine balance between advantage and pressure that comes with hosting the continent\u2019s biggest football competition.<\/p>\n

The Atlas Lions will be chasing the AFCON crown on home soil.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Algerian captain Riyad Mahrez has shared his thoughts ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), set to be hosted in Morocco from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026. The former Manchester City winger and current player of Al-Ahli labeled the Atlas Lions as the outright favorites for the tournament […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":61150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-61151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nMahrez Names Morocco as AFCON 2025 Favorites - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Algerian captain Riyad Mahrez has shared his thoughts ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), set to be hosted ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mahrez Names Morocco as AFCON 2025 Favorites\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Algerian captain Riyad Mahrez has shared his thoughts ahead of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), set to be hosted ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T20:42:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-03T21:27:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/09\/sm_1756918283.310835.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1616\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"909\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mahrez Names Morocco as AFCON 2025 Favorites\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-03T20:42:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-03T21:27:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites\"},\"wordCount\":212,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/09\/sm_1756918283.310835.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mahrez-names-morocco-as-afcon-2025-favorites\",\"name\":\"Mahrez Names Morocco as AFCON 2025 Favorites - 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