South Africa and Zimbabwe were again drawn together and will compete in the same group at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco, just months after they conclude battling in the same World Cup qualifying group.
Bafana and the Warriors are tussling it out for a place at the 2026 World Cup finals in North America and have a qualifying match to come in Zimbabwe in October near the end of the qualifying campaign.
They will then meet again two months later at the Cup of Nations finals, after both were paired in Group B at the draw, which was conducted in Rabat on Monday.
🇪🇬🇿🇦🇦🇴🇿🇼
— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) January 27, 2025
Which nation will dominate #TotalEnergiesAFCON2025 Group B? pic.twitter.com/nm9w6XFBiK
South Africa start their Group B campaign against Angola in Marrakech on 22 December and then meet top seeds Egypt in Agadir on 26 December and finish off against Zimbabwe in Marrakech on 29 December.
South Africa reached the semifinals at the last edition in the Ivory Coast 12 months ago, with Egypt going out in the last 16 and Angola reaching the quarterfinals.
South Africa will face Zimbabwe at the Cup of Nations for the first time but it will be a fifth clash in the finals against Angola after previous meetings in 1996, 1998, 2008 and 2013.
South Africa are undefeated against Angola in four previous finals fixtures
Bafana will face Egypt at the finals for a fourth time they defeated them in their last meeting in 2019 in in Cairo when the Pharaohs were the hosts.
The teams also met in the 1998 final in Burkina Faso, and in a group meeting in 1996.
Locked in 🔒
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) January 27, 2025
The draw for #AFCON2025 is complete and the countdown is on!
What's the trickiest group? 👀 pic.twitter.com/E3ssBP6tUP
AFCON DRAW
Group A: Morocco, Mali, Zambia, Comoros
Group B: Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe
Group C: Nigeria, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania
Group D: Senegal, DR Congo, Benin, Botswana
Group E: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Sudan
Group F: Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique
The top two teams in each group plus the four best third placed finishers advance to the last-16.