Important opening matches for Petkovic, Addo and Benzarti

Algeria, Ghana and Tunisia are all under new management as they look to make a positive start to their respective 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaigns on Thursday, 5 September.

Vladimir Petkovic is now in charge of Algeria, who will take on Equatorial Guinea in a group E clash at the Miloud Hadefi Stadium in Oran.

Petkovic replaced Djamel Belmadi at the helm in February following the Fennec Foxes' failure to progress beyond the group stages at the 2023 Afcon in Ivory Coast.

The National Thunder made it one step further at the continental showpiece as they fell to Guinea in the round of 16.

Otto Addo will be hoping to improve Ghana's Afcon fortunes when they face Angola in a group F encounter at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi.

Chris Hughton paid the price for a poor showing at the 2023 edition after the Black Stars also exited the tournament at the first hurdle, with Addo returning for a second spell in March.

The Black Sable Antelopes caught the eye in Ivory Coast as they reached the quarterfinals before narrowly losing 1-0 to Nigeria.

BENZARTI BACK

Faouzi Benzarti is back in the Tunisia hot seat for a fourth stint for the visit of Madagascar to the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium in Tunis.

Benzarti succeeded Jalel Kadri in June, with the Tunisian Football Federation having wielded the axe following the Eagles of Carthage's early elimination from the tournament in the group stages.

The Barea have only ever qualified for Afcon once, in 2019 when they advanced to the quarterfinals, beating the Super Eagles and DR Congo in the process before bowing out to Tunisia.

In the other matches taking place, Malawi host Burundi at the Bingu National Stadium, Central African Republic welcome Lesotho to the Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, Guinea-Bissau face Eswatini at the Estadio 24 de Setembro and Congo lock horns with South Sudan at the Stade Alphonse Massemba-Debat.

Thursday's 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixtures:

15h00: Malawi v Burundi

17h00: Central African Republic v Lesotho

18h00: Ghana v Angola

18h00: Guinea-Bissau v Eswatini

18h00: Congo v South Sudan

21h00: Tunisia v Madagascar

21h00: Algeria v Equatorial Guinea