South Africa Excludes Nigerian-born Defender From AFCON 2025 Squad

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has dropped Nigerian-born defender Ime Okon from his final squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations. Okon was initially named in South Africa’s 55-man provisional list by Broos two weeks ago.

However, the Hannover of Germany star failed to make the final 25-man squad released by the Belgian tactician yesterday. The 21-year-old has made five appearances for Bafana Bafana and was born to a Nigerian father and a South African mother.

South Africa will commence their training camp for the competition on 8 December. Bafana will begin their AFCON 2025 campaign against Angola on 22 December, followed by a match against Egypt four days later, and will round out Group B against Zimbabwe on 29 December.