December 28, 2025
Today’s early afternoon kick-off in the Africa Cup Of Nations was a Group F match between Gabon and Mozambique. Both sides had lost their opening fixtures by a 0-1 scoreline, Mozambique to Ivory Coast and Gabon to Cameroon. Therefore, both sides were in need of a victory today if they were to have realistic ambitions of being one of the four best third placed teams and to proceed to the last 16 knock-out round.
This would be the first time both countries had been featured in these diaries.
Gabon
Gabon is located on the Atlantic Coast of Central Africa, with Equatorial Guinea to the north-west, Cameroon to the north and Congo Republic to the east and south.
Gabon covers an area of 270,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 2.3 million. A former French colony, Gabon achieved independence in 1960. Consequently, French is the official language and is spoken by an estimated 80% of the population. There are 40 Bantu languages spoken in Gabon, of which Fang is the most widely spoken, and is also spoken in Equatorial Guinea and parts of Cameroon, Sao Tome and Principe and Republic of Congo.
The capital of Gabon is Libreville, which has a population of over 700,000, and 80% of country are Christian.
Its currency is the Central African CAF Franc, which is also the currency in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea.
Football in Gabon
The top level of football in Gabon is the Championnat D1, which for the 2024/25 season consisted of 13 sides and was won by Mangasports, from the inland town of Moanda, who finished 22 points clear of FC Libreville. The season ended in May, but it is not known when the new season will commence.
In the 2025/26 CAF Champions League, Mangasports played Rahimo of Burkina Faso in the First Round, but after two 0-0 draws, they lost a penalty shoot-out 2-4.
In the 2025/26 CAF Confederation Cup, FC Libreville were drawn against Zesco United from Zambia but despite winning the home leg 2-0, they crashed 0-5 in Ndola to be eliminated.
Gabon currently had a FIFA ranking of 78 and are known as The Panthers. They had never qualified for the World Cup Finals, but in the recently completed World Cup qualification campaign, Gabon finished second in their group behind Ivory Coast with an 8-1-1 record. Home and away victories were recorded over Gambia, Kenya, Burundi and The Seychelles, but against Ivory Coast they could only draw 0-0 at home and lost 0-1 away.
Los Angeles FC forward Denis Bouanga ( 53 caps ) scored 8 times in the group whilst Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang ( 85 caps ), the ex-Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea striker, found the net 7 times. Aubameyang is the record goalscorer for The Panthers having 39 goals to his name and at the age of 36 is still playing for Marseille.
Gabon’s second place entered them into CAF’s play-offs for a place in the Intercontinental play-offs, where they faced Nigeria in a one-off game in Morocco. Although it was 1-1 after 90 minutes, Nigeria went on to win 4-1 in extra time.
Gabon qualified for AFCON 25 by coming second in a four-team group behind Morocco with a 3-1-2 record, with all 6 matches played in 2024. Gabon did the double over Central African Republic ( H 2-0, A 1-0 ) and had the better of Lesotho ( H 0-0, A 1-0 ) but were thrashed twice by Morocco, 1-5 at home and 1-4 away.
Gabon Squad
In addition to Aubameyang, three other members of the Gabon squad had played in the English Premier League. Captain Bruno Ecuele Managa played five seasons for Cardiff City including their one season in the Premier League in 2018/19 when Fatbear saw him play at Arsenal, with Aubameyang in the Arsenal XI. Ecuele Manga is Gabon’s record cap holder with 109 appearances, and is now playing in the third level in France.
Defensive midfielder Mario Lemina ( 40 caps ) played for Southampton, Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and is now with Galatasaray, and had Marseille and Juventus on his CV. Midfielder Didier Ndong ( 53 caps ) played for Sunderland and is now playing in Iran for Esteghlal.
Only one of the Gabon squad played his club football in his home country, striker Malick Evouna ( 32 caps ), who had played in China, Morocco, Egypt, Portugal and Tunisia.
The rest of the squad of 28 players were spread across 12 countries, France being the highest represented with 9 players, followed by Turkey with 4 and Italy, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Iran each providing two players.
Midfielder Andre Poko ( 87 caps ) had played for Israeli side Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Croatian side Istra 1961 and four sides in Turkey, including current employers Amedspor, and Guelor Kanga ( 84 caps ) numbered Sparta Prague, Rostov and Red Star Belgrade amongst his former clubs and is now playing in the Turkish second tier.
Head Coach Thierry Mouyouma was an ex-Gabon international ( 32 caps ) and played overseas in Portugal and South Africa.
Mozambique
The Republic of Mozambique is located on the south-east of Africa on the Indian Ocean, with Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the north-east, Zimbabwe to the west and Eswatini and South Africa to the south-west.
Mozambique covers an area of just over 800,000 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 35 million. A former Portuguese colony, Mozambique achieved independence in 1975 and Portuguese is the official language, although 5 regional languages are also recognised.
The capital of Mozambique is Maputo, previously known as Lourenco Marques, which has a population of over 1 million. 60% of country are Christian.
Its currency is the Metical, which replaced the Portuguese Escudo in 1980.
Football in Mozambique
The topflight league in Mozambique is known as the Mocambola and consists of 14 sides who play each other twice for a 26-game season. With four founds to be played in the current season, UD Songo, from an inland town close to the borders with Zambia and Malawi, were 18 points clear of second placed Black Bulls, the 2024 champions, from the capital Maputo, so were assured of their fourth title since 2017.
In the 2025/26 CAF Champions League, Black Bulls faced AC Leopards from the Republic of Congo and won a penalty shoot-out after two 0-0 draws. In the second round Black Bulls beat Rivers United from Nigeria 1-0 in the home leg, but then were defeated 1-3 in the second leg to exit the competition.
In the 2025/26 CAF Confederations Cup, Cup Winners Ferroviario de Maputo faced AS Fanalamanga from Madagascar and after 1-1 home draw, won 2-1 away to progress to the second round, although the return leg was also played in Maputo. However, in the second round AS Otoho from the Congo Republic were too strong, winning both legs to progress 3-0 on aggregate.
In colonial times, Mozambique provided a number of players to the Portugal national team, with the most notable being Eusebio ( 63 caps and 41 goals ), centre-back Vicente ( 20 caps ) and left-back Hilario ( 40 caps ), who were all key players as Portugal won Third Place in the 1966 World Cup. In more recent times, ex-Everton, Liverpool and Middlesborough Poseidon look-alike Abel Xavier ( 20 caps ) performed with distinction for Portugal during Euro 2000, whilst Jorge Cadete ( 33 caps ) played in Euro 96, as well as for Celtic, Sporting CP, Benfica, Bradford City and Partick Thistle.
Mozambique National Team
Mozambique currently had a FIFA ranking of 102 but had been as high as 66th in 1997.
Mozambique had never qualified for the World Cup Finals, but this was the 6th time they had qualified for the AFCON finals, although they had never previously got out of the group stages, or even won a match.
In the recently completed World Cup qualification campaign Mozambique finished in third place in their group with a 6-0-4 record. They did the double over Botswana and Somalia, but lost at home to Guinea ( 1-2 ) but won the away fixture ( 1-0 ) but had the reverse with Uganda, winning 3-1 at home but losing 0-4 away. The two games against group winners Algeria resulted in defeats, 0-2 at home and 1-5 away.
Mozambique qualified for AFCON 2025 with a second place finished in their group behind Mali with a 3-2-1 record. A double was recorded over Guinea-Bissau ( both 2-1 ), and although back-markers drew 1-1 in Maputo, the return, played in South Africa, was won 3-0. Against Mali, Mozambique drew 1-1 in the opening group fixture in Bamako, but fell to a 0-1 loss at home.
The nickname for the Mozambique national team is The Mambas.
Mozambique Squad
11 of the Mozambique squad plied their trade in their domestic league, with Black Bulls and UD Songo each providing 4 players. Portugal supplied 7 players and the rest of the squad were spread across 10 countries.
The only player from Mozambique to play in the English Premier League was ex-Lille and Atletico Madrid and current Sunderland full-back Reinildo Mandava ( 54 caps ). Midfielder Alfons Amade ( 13 caps ) was now playing for Dunfermline Athletic, having previously been with Oostende and Bulgarian side Septemvri Sofia.
Winger Geny Catamo ( 37 caps ) played for Sporting CP and defender Mexer ( 74 caps ) had played for Rennes and Bordeaux in France and Nacional and Estoril in Portugal but was now playing in the second tier in Turkey. Portugal born midfielder Guima ( 22 caps ) now played in Azerbaijan for Zira, and was a rare white player in AFCON, whilst winger Witi ( 47 caps ) played for Madeiran side Nacional in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, and presumably leaves supporters rolling in the aisles !
42-year-old captain and centre-back Domingues was the record cap holder on 118 and was the second highest goal scorer with 17 goals.
Coach Chiquinho Condo ( 43 caps ) played for 8 sides in Portugal including Sporting CP, and New England Revolution in the USA.
Matchday Information
The match was being played at the 45,480 capacity Adrar Stadium in Agadir, which is home to Hossania Agadir.
All AFCON matches were being shown live in the UK over the Channel 4 network, and this match was streamed on the 4seven channel ( Sky Channel 137 ).
Bet365, who also live streamed the game made Gabon 4/5 favourites, with Mozambique at 15/4 and the draw 12/5.
Online tickets for the game ranged from 100 to 300 Moroccan Dirhams ( £8 to £25 )
The weather at the 13.30 local kick-off time ( 12.30 UK ) was sunny and 17 degrees.
Gabon were playing in yellow shirts with blue shorts and socks., whilst Mozambique were in red shirts with black trimmings, black shorts and red socks.
Gabon made four changes from the side that started against Cameroon. In came Aubameyeng, Lemina, Kanga and Red Star Belgrade’s Shavy Babicka ( 19 caps ). Out went Alex Moucketou-Moussounda, Royce Openda, Teddy Averlant and Eric Bocoum
Following their loss to Ivory Coast, Mozambique two changes to their side with Domingues and Faisal Bangal ( 10 caps ), who plays in the 4th tier in Italy, back into the side, and Manuel Kambala ( 39 caps ) and Stanley Ratifo ( 38 caps ), of 4th tier Chemie Leipzig in Germany, were dropped.
The referee was Mehrez Melki from Tunisia.
Match Report
The crowd was spartan at the kick-off although there were around a thousand or so Gabon supporters concregated around the half-way line in the upper tier of the open stand.
The start of the match was lively as first Kanga’s 20-yard shot produced a diving save from Mozambique keeper Eman Siluane ( 29 caps ) at the expense of a corner. The set-piece was cleared, and a left footed cross from the right wing was well claimed by Mozambique keeper.
Catamo set off on a good run for the Mambas, and a left footed shot from the edge of the area was deflected wide for a corner, at which Kanga was fouled for a free-kick to Gabon.
In the 6th minute Diogo Calila sent a dangerous cross into the Gabon area but the glancing header from Witi bounced well wide.
Siluane continued to show safe handling, coming to the edge of his area to catch a floated ball over the top, ahead of two on-rushing Gabon attackers.
The game entered a quiet phase until the 17th minute when a long ball put Catamo clear with just Gabon keeper Loyce Mbaba ( 14 caps ) to beat, but the midfielder took a heavy touch and Mbaba able to kick clear.
Witi then won a corner off Anthony Oyono ( 29 caps ) from which Mandava rose highest but couldn’t direct his header, which went high and wide.
Gabon and Angers left-back Jacques Ekomie ( 19 caps ) produced a great piece of defending, first stopping Bangal from getting a cross in, then kept the ball in play, and was then fouled to win a free-kick.
In the 25th minute Witi produced a lovely dummy but a superb sliding interception from Ecuele Manga prevented the return pass from Bangal reaching Witi.
Two minutes later, a 30-yard free-kick from Mexer would have been a fabulous conversion in rugby, but in football it only resulted in a goal-kick. A minute after this, Mexer attempted a 30 yard left footed effort, which again went high over the bar to keep the rugby scouts interested.
With 30 minutes played, a through ball put Guima clear but rather than attempt to slide the ball past Mbaba he opted to pass square to Witi but a sliding tackle Oyono prevented the Mozambique winger from having a shot. Guima should have gone for glory himself.
Five minutes later an awful backward pass by Bangal was latched onto by Bouanaga who ran into Mozambique area, but his left footed shot was a comfortable low save for Siluane.
Bangal quickly redeemed himself though, when he met an in-swinging corner from Catamo and unmarked, he sent a glancing header into corner from 6 yards. 0-1 after 38 minutes.
Almost immediately after, Rodrigues nicked the ball off Ecuele Manga close to the Gabon byline and a shirt pull brought him down for an obvious penalty. The Gabon captain was shown a yellow card and Catamo sent the keeper wrong way from the spot. It was now 0-2 with 41 minutes on the clock.
Gabon were rocking, and flowing Mozambique passing move looked to give Bangal a chance in the right-hand side of the Gabon area but an important tackle by Ecuele Managa took the ball off Bangal just as he was about to pull the trigger.
An over hit cross from Bouanaga was plucked out of the sky by keeper impressive Mozambique keeper.
Mozambique could have extended their lead in the first added minute of the first half as a back-heel from Bangal found Witi in space, and his curling 20 yard effort crashed back from the crossbar. Guima ran onto the rebound and blazed first time wildly over from 10 yards when he had time to take a touch.
The Mambas paid the price for that miss as in the 5th added minute Ndong had a go from 30 yards and Siluane made a block. However, Aubameyeng slid in with a predator’s finish from 6 yards to pull one back for the Panthers. Siluane would probably have felt he could have done better to push away from the goal, but it was 1-2 at half-time.
Gabon made three changes at half-time, including taking off captain Ecuele Manga but it was Mozambique who scored next when a super left-footed cross from left by Witi saw right back Diogo Calila ghost into the area to head past Mbaba from 8 yards. 1-3 after 52 minutes.
Gabon should have pulled one back almost immediately. Bouanga cut inside on left and delivered an inviting cross, but with a free header on the 6-yard line, Aubameyang somehow put the ball wide. It was a glorious chance !
Gabon continued to press and forced two corners but the next chance went to Mozambique when Catamo went on a good run and shot left footed from just outside area, but Mbaba made a regulation catch above his head.
A Gabon free-kick was sent beyond far post but Aubameyang couldn’t keep it in play with his head.
With 15 minutes remaining Siluane made a great double save. First, Aubameyang was put clear after lovely through ball from Ekomie but was denied at close range by the Black Bulls keeper. Lemina ran onto rebound but his shot from 10 yards was pushed away by the keeper for corner. Gabon sent the corner into the mixer and Ekomie’s blasted left footed shot 12 yards produced another great reflex save from Siluane, but substitute Moucketou-Moussounda slid in to score from just inside 6-yard box. It was now 2-3 with 76 minutes played
It was all Gabon now and after lengthy treatment Siluane was shown a yellow card, presumably for time wasting. Poko sent a good cross from the right wing but Lamina’s glancing header was at Siluane, who made the save and then went down injured again after kicking the ball off for a throw. However, he was able to continue again.
Mozambique got the ball into the net in the 90th minute after a quick counter. A 20-yard shot struck the shoulder of Catamo and diverted into the top corner of the net. However, Catamo was clearly offside and the goal was chalked off.
Gabon were getting desperate and Lamina’s 25-yard attempt rolled through to keeper, but the effort from the same distance by Kanga went just over the bar.
Throwing players forward, Gabon were suspectable to counter-attacks and a long throw by Nanani sent Catamo clear but Mbaba saved the attempt with an outstretched foot.
In the 8th added minute Siluane caught a high cross from the left wing and the referee blew his whistle to end the game.
Mozambique had their first ever victory at AFCON but may still need a point against Cameroon to progress. Gabon would have to beat Ivory Coast in their final match to have any hope of reaching the knock-out stages.
Highlights : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHKH0RFVVVU
Gabon : Mbaba – Oyono ( Moucketou-Moussounda ), Ecuele Manga ( Onfia ), Lemina, Ekomie – Poko, Ndong, Kanga – Babicka ( Openda ), Aubameyang, Bouanga ( Matouti )
Mozambique : Siluane – Diogo Calila ( Nanani ), Mexer, Mandava, Langa – Catamo, Guima, Domingues ( Kambala ), Amade, Witi ( Gildo )– Bangal ( Chamboco )
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