Morocco head coach Walid Regragui has revealed he would prefer to face Algeria rather than Nigeria in the semi-finals of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after the Atlas Lions booked their place in the last four, footynaija.com reports.
Morocco secured qualification with a 2-0 win over Cameroon on Friday at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, with Brahim Diaz and Ismael Saibari scoring either side of half-time to settle the quarter-final.
🎥 HIGHLIGHTS: 🇨🇲 0–2 🇲🇦
— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) January 10, 2026
Díaz and Saibari lead Morocco to the #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 semi-finals. pic.twitter.com/9Bd2COwhIv
The hosts now await the winner of Saturday’s last-eight tie between the Super Eagles and Algeria in Marrakech. The other quarter-final will see Egypt face defending champions Ivory Coast later in the evening.
The Nigeria–Algeria clash is widely regarded as a 50-50 contest. Both teams have won all four of their matches so far in the tournament. Nigeria boast the competition’s best attack with 12 goals, while Algeria have the tightest defence, having conceded just once.
Only wins between these two.
— TotalEnergies AFCON 2025 (@CAF_Online) January 10, 2026
Algeria vs Nigeria for a #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 semi-final spot. Who takes it? 🇩🇿🇳🇬 pic.twitter.com/61TqQ09tIE
Despite Nigeria’s firepower, Regragui made it clear he would rather meet Algeria in the semi-final.
“If it’s Algeria we have to face in the semi-final, it will be a true historic derby, between two brotherly peoples,” he said. “It would be beautiful for football. If it’s them, we’ll be very happy because it will be a great celebration.”
History slightly favours Algeria. The Desert Warriors have won their last four meetings with Nigeria, including a 2-1 victory in the semi-finals of the 2019 AFCON, which they went on to win.
Saturday’s game will be the 22nd meeting between the two sides, with Algeria holding a narrow edge in both overall and AFCON meetings.
