Nigeria’s Super Eagles and the Atlas Lions of Morocco will meet on Wednesday in a high-profile semifinal clash at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, a match millions of people around the world will be watching, given the caliber of the two teams.

As the host nation, Morocco have enjoyed vociferous support from the home crowd and, coupled with the quality of their players, the Atlas Lions are the team to beat in the tournament.

However, the Super Eagles have taken the AFCON by storm in a surprising turnaround amid low expectations coming into the tournament following the disappointment of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification, making the tie against Morocco an interesting one to watch.

The Atlas Lions have won four of their matches in the tournament, with Mali the only team to hold them to a 1-1 draw in the group stage.

On the other hand, the Super Eagles have won all their matches at the AFCON, including against strong sides such as Tunisia in the group stage and Algeria in the quarterfinals.

Looking at history, Morocco has a slight edge over Nigeria in the past AFCON matches involving the two teams, with the Atlas Lions having a 3-2 advantage over the Super Eagles in previous encounters in the competition.

At the AFCON, they first met in the 1976 tournament’s opening group stage match, with Morocco emerging 3-1 victors.

They met again in the final of that year’s tournament, and Morocco won again, defeating Nigeria 2-1 to lift their first-ever AFCON title. Four years later, Nigeria grabbed their first win over Morocco in the semi-finals of the 1980 AFCON, winning 1-0.

The two teams did not meet again until the 2000 tournament co-hosted by Nigeria and Ghana. Nigeria won that group-stage match 2-0. Their last encounter before Wednesday’s match was in the 2004 AFCON, where Morocco pipped Nigeria 1-0.

Head-to-head across all competitions also favoured Morocco, but this time very heavily. Both teams have faced each other 11 times, with Morocco winning six and Nigeria three.

The other two games ended in draws.

Nigeria will be facing the host nation for the second consecutive tournament. The Super Eagles defeated Côte d’Ivoire in the group stage of the last tournament before losing 2-1 to the host nation in the final. Will the visitors usurp the hosts this time?

The West African country has lost four times against hosts: twice against Algeria in 1990 (group stage and final), Ghana in the 2008 quarter-finals, and Côte d’Ivoire in the final of the last edition.