The Newcastle United fans have seen the decision made public on Yoane Wissa for African Cup of Nations, whether he will be taking part in the tournament, as DR Congo have named their squad.
Fair to say that many Newcastle supporters were worried that just as the striker was going to be able to play, he would be then whisked off to play for his country for a sizeable chunk of the middle of this season.
Now DR Congo have named their squad for the AFCON and Yoane Wissa is NOT going to the tournament.
If they had included the Newcastle United striker, it would have been especially difficult to take when factoring in that Wissa picked up the injury with his country, after signing for Newcastle BUT before he could make his club debut.
Keith Downie of Sky Sports says that he has been told that it is “full focus on Newcastle as priority” from Yoane Wissa.
Great to hear.
Whilst the DR Congo squad doesn’t include Yoane Wissa, it does include two Sunderland players. They are set to surely be the hardest hit of all Premier League squad, with numerous players (see below) seemingly set to be heading to the African Cup of Nations.
🇨🇩 DR Congo have announced their final 26-man squad for AFCON 2025!
Notably, Fiston Mayele is the only player based in Africa included in the team.
🗓️ Group Stage Fixtures:
• Benin – 23 December
• Senegal – 27 December
• Botswana – 30 DecemberThe Leopards are ready to… pic.twitter.com/aJpTdIX3bg
— Micky Jnr (@MickyJnr__) December 1, 2025
AFCON (African Cup of Nations) is fast approaching and interesting to see how this is set to impact the various Premier League clubs.
The tournament is taking place in Morocco and lasts for four weeks from Sunday 21 December 2025 to Sunday 18 January 2026.
In total, there are currently fifty players from African countries who currently play in the Premier League.
However, ‘only’ 46 could have been at AFCON and missing this middle period of the season with their Premier League clubs, with Ghana, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau all failing to qualify. Tottenham’s Mohammed Kudus and Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo are four African players with Premier League clubs who will not feature at the competition.
During this upcoming AFCON tournament, there are six rounds of Premier League fixtures due to take place between those dates (21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026), as well as the third round of the FA Cup and the semi-final first legs of the Carabao Cup, meaning a total of eight matches some players may miss during the actual AFCON tournament.
This of course doesn’t take into account whether some countries will expect to have players at training camps in advance, to help prepare for AFCON. Plus of course the recovery time afterwards…
The full list of Premier League players who could have featured at AFCON:
Bournemouth: Amine Adli (Morocco)
Arsenal: No African players in current first-team squad
Aston Villa: Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast)
Brentford: Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria),
Brighton: Carlos Baleba (Cameroon)
Burnley: Axel Tuanzebe (DR Congo), Lyle Foster (South Africa), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia)
Chelsea: No African players in current first-team squad
Crystal Palace: Ismaila Sarr (Senegal), Christantus Uche (Nigeria), Cheick Doucoure (Mali), Chadi Riad (Morocco)
Everton: Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal), Idrissa Gueye (Senegal), Adam Aznou (Morocco)
Fulham: Calvin Bassey (Nigeria), Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria)
Leeds: No African players in current first-team squad
Liverpool: Mohamed Salah (Egypt)
Man City: Omar Marmoush (Egypt), Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria)
Man U: Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Bryan Mbuemo (Cameroon)
Newcastle United: Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)
Nottingham Forest: Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast), Taiwo Awoniyi (Nigeria), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Ola Aina (Nigeria)
Sunderland: Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Blondy Nna Noukeu (Cameroon), Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique), Habib Diarra (Senegal), Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo), Ahmed Abdullahi (Nigeria), Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)
Tottenham: Yves Bissouma (Mali), Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal)
West Ham: El Hadji Malick Diouf (Senegal), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (DR Congo)
Wolves: Marshall Munetsi (Zimbabwe), Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast), Tolu Arokodare (Nigeria), Tawanda Chirewa (Zimbabwe), Jackson Tchatchoua (Cameroon)
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