AFCON 2025: blow for the Cheetahs, Cédric Hountondji ruled out
Touched during the league at the end of October and operated on in early November, Cédric Hountondji will miss AFCON 2025 in Morocco. Another blow for the Beninese defender, already absent from the 2019 edition, and a significant loss for the Cheetahs as the big continental event approaches.
Cédric Hountondji @ Africa Zoom
Less than two months before the kick-off of the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Benin will have to cope without one of its defensive pillars. Cédric Hountondji, injured at the end of October in the league, has been forced to withdraw from the continental tournament.
The verdict is in: Bandırmaspor’s central defender will not be fit in time to take part in the 35th edition of AFCON, scheduled from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026. Injured during a league match on 26 October, the Benin international underwent surgery on 6 November. His period of unavailability, estimated at six to eight weeks, therefore rules him out of the major Moroccan event. This withdrawal is a real blow for coach Gernot Rohr and the Cheetahs, as Hountondji has established himself as a keystone of Benin’s defense in recent years.
The 30-year-old is no stranger to continental disappointment: he had already missed AFCON 2019 in Egypt due to a similar injury. Another twist of fate for the solid defender, who will once again have to follow his teammates from the stands. Benin, qualified for the first time since 2019, will now have to find a major alternative to plug this defensive gap before the start of the competition.