AFCON 2025 Futures Tips - Outright Winner Predictions, Top Goalscorer & Group Betting

The stage is set for a mouth-watering month of football in Morocco as the best nations in Africa battle for supremacy in a bid to hoist the AFCON silverware.

Some of the best players in the world will be on show at AFCON 2025/26, including Mo Salah and Achraf Hakimi.

There's plenty of betting options for Futures punters at this year's AFCON - read on below for our best predictions for the outright winner and top goalscorer.

It's tough to go past the host nation. Morocco have emerged as one of, if not the premier nation in Africa over the last few years, starting with their fourth-placed finish at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Morocco enter this AFCON on an incredible 18-match winning streak (excluding Arab Cup games). As the host nation, the Atlas Lions didn't need to go through qualifying, but they did in order to make a statement of intent, winning all six of their matches with a goal difference of 26-2.

They boast the 2025 African Player of the Year in Achraf Hakimi, who won the UEFA Champions League with PSG last season and has a total of 30 goal involvements over the last two seasons - no defender from Europe's top five leagues has more.

Throw in the likes of Real Madrid's Brahim Diaz and Fenerbahce striker Youssef En-Nesyri and Walid Regragui's side are the deserved favourites to win a first AFCON trophy since 1976.

Winners of the 2021 AFCON after edging out Egypt on penalties, few sides - if any - are equipped with the raw and explosive attacking firepower of Senegal.

The Lions of Teranga comfortably qualified for the 2026 World Cup and even registered a dominant 3-1 win over England in Nottingham earlier this year.

Senegal have only lost one match under the tutelage of new manager Pape Thiaw - and even in that 2-0 defeat to Brazil, they had more possession and almost levelled the shot count (11-14).

Any team with the likes of Sadio Mane, Kalidou Koulibaly, Nicolas Jackson and Ismaïla Sarr are going to be a very real threat.

Sarr has been one of the key catalysts in Crystal Palace rising to become a current top six English Premier Club and reigning FA Cup champions, notching up 20 goals and eight assists since the start of last season, while Mane and Koulibaly provide the experience and are still operating at a high level.

One of the emerging African nations over the last few years, Congo DR appear outstanding value at $51 after finishing fourth at the 2023 AFCON.

Les Leopards comes into the AFCON on a six-game winning streak in all competitions, including securing their spot in the final playoff for World Cup 2026 qualifying by conquering fellow African powerhouses Cameroon and Nigeria. Apart from a surprise defeat to Kenya in March, Congo DR have only lost to Morocco and Senegal in 2025 - two of the leading contenders for the trophy.

Boasting the likes of West Ham defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Real Betis striker Cedric Bakambu and Lille defender and captain Chancel Mbemba, Congo DR are certainly a nation to keep an eye on throughout the tournament

Sebastien Desabre's side did cop a tough draw alongside Senegal, Benin and Botswana, but you'd still expect them to advance to the knockout stages - and from there, anything can happen.

I'm keen to fade Egypt at this year's AFCON - the obvious drama surrounding Liverpool's Mo Salah threatens to derail their chances - and while they still have other star players, including Man City's Omar Marmoush, there's no doubt Salah is the main man behind the Pharaohs' chances.

Salah has never won an AFCON with Egypt and that's even when he was operating at the peak of his  powers. In fact, he was part of the Egyptian side that went down 1-0 to South Africa in the 2019 competition.

South Africa are back as one of the continent's top nations after qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, finishing top of their group ahead of Nigeria. Bafana Bafana are unbeaten in 16 of their last 17 internationals in all competitions, while they've also gone unbeaten in their last six meetings with Egypt - winning two games in 2025.

Nigeria have it all to play for at the AFCON after sensationally missing out on a spot at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, falling to DR Congo in the continental playoffs after finishing behind South Africa in qualifying.

That means the Super Eagles will be determined for some silverware before putting their feet up next year. Osimhen is arguably in career-best form at the moment - he's Galatasaray's leading scorer and only Kylian Mbappe has more goals (nine) than the striker (six from six games) in this year's UEFA Champions League.

Osimhen also has a tremendous record for his country, scoring 31 goals in 45 previous appearances for Nigeria.

Algeria are genuine contenders for the trophy and Wolfsburg striker Amoura will be a key figure if they are indeed to advance deep into the tournament.

Amoura had a whopping 14 goal involvements in recent World Cup qualifying, leading the goalscoring charts with 10. The 25-year-old is also equal-10th in the Bundesliga this season, scoring six goals for Wolfsburg. Amoura has 19 goals in 39 appearances for Algeria and looks good value to be amongst the leading goalscorers at this year's AFCON.