Egypt and Nigeria will meet in Cairo on Tuesday night without three of Africa’s biggest football stars, after Mohamed Salah, Omar Marmoush and Victor Osimhen were ruled out of the final AFCON warm-up, footynaija.com reports.
Egypt will be without Liverpool’s Salah and Manchester City attacker Marmoush, who were rested from training on Monday despite arriving in Cairo.
— EFA.eg (@EFA) December 15, 2025
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The Pharaohs trained with 24 players instead as Mahmoud Hassan Trezeguet was also ruled out of the friendly due to a dental procedure. Midfielder Ibrahim Adel is recovering from an ankle sprain but is expected to be fit for Egypt’s opening AFCON match against Zimbabwe on December 22.
Nigeria also held their first full training session in Cairo on Monday night, with 22 players in camp under head coach Eric Chelle. However, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze and Moses Simon were all absent and will miss the Egypt match.
Osimhen has departed Turkey and is expected to link up with the squad later in Morocco, while Chukwueze and Simon are also set to join the team before the tournament begins.
The friendly offers both coaches a final opportunity to assess squad depth and fitness before AFCON kicks off next week. Nigeria will face Tanzania, Tunisia and Uganda in Group C, while Egypt head to Morocco on Wednesday to complete preparations.
