Category World News

Who: Cameroon vs Morocco
What: CAF Africa Cup of Nations
Where: Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, Morocco
When: Friday, January 9 at 8pm (19:00 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the build-up on Al Jazeera Sport from 16:00 GMT in advance of our live score and text commentary stream.

Few gave Cameroon much of a chance in the Africa Cup of Nations after off-the-field issues marred their build-up to the tournament but the Indomitable Lions stood firm in the face of adversity to reach the quarterfinals in Morocco.

The five-time champions are up against the hosts in Friday’s last-eight tie, knowing the pressure is firmly on the North Africans as they look to win a first AFCON title in 50 years in front of their home supporters.

With high-profile players such as Brahim Diaz, Achraf Hakimi, Bryan Mbeumo and Carlos Baleba involved, there will be no shortage of talent on display in Rabat.

Here’s everything you need to know about Cameroon vs Morocco:

What happened in Cameroon’s camp before the AFCON 2025?

Cameroon have spent the last 18 months embroiled in a bizarre battle of wills between their federation, headed by four-time African Footballer of the Year Samuel Eto’o, and the sports ministry, which employs the coach.

Head coach Marc Brys was employed against Eto’o’s wishes, and the pair sparred publicly throughout the 21 months that the Belgian managed the team. Brys had the backing of the government, which pays the team’s costs, leaving a frustrated Eto’o undermining his coach whenever he could but being unable to get rid of him.

Ultimately, Cameroon, who have been to more FIFA World Cups than any other African nation, had a dismal qualifying campaign and failed to make the cut for the 2026 edition.

World Cup qualification failure, combined with a landslide re-election win for Eto’o at about the same time, saw support for Brys suddenly fade, and he was fired three weeks before the AFCON. In his place, the unheralded David Pagou was appointed new coach, and a squad for AFCON was selected without captain Vincent Aboubakar or goalkeeper Andre Onana, who had previously expressed support for the sports minister.

How did Cameroon reach the AFCON quarterfinals?

Cameroon finished runners-up in Group F with two wins and a draw. They were tied on seven points with the Ivory Coast, but settled for the second spot on account of fewer goals scored than the table toppers.

In the round of 16, Cameroon beat South Africa 2-1, thanks to goals from Junior Tchamadeu and Christian Kofane.

What happened in Morocco’s camp?

Despite being tipped as overwhelming favourites, the World Cup 2022 semifinalists faced early criticism after a nervy opening-day win over minnows Comoros and a draw with Mali, before restoring confidence with a convincing 3-0 victory over Zambia in their final group match.

Coach Walid Regragui had apologised to frustrated fans for the team’s underwhelming performance, saying, “Moroccans are naturally emotional, they need confidence.”

Captain Hakimi urged fans to back them all the way through.

“If the fans are behind us we can be champions of Africa together,” he said.

How did Morocco reach the quarterfinals?

Morocco topped Group A with a similar record, bagging two wins and a draw for seven points.

They started their knockout campaign with a 1-0 win over Tanzania in the round of 16.

Who will the winner face in the next round?

The winner of the Cameroon vs Morocco match will face the winner of the Algeria vs Nigeria match in the semifinals. That game will be held on January 14 in Rabat.

Who are Cameroon’s best players?

Cameroon have not been among the most free-scoring sides, but a handful of individuals have stepped up to the task.

Teenage forward Christian Kofane has been the standout player, scoring twice at the tournament, including a decisive strike in the round-of-16 victory, to underline his growing importance to the Indomitable Lions. Cameroon were also fortunate during the group stage, benefitting from two own goals that helped keep their campaign on track.

Beyond Kofane, goals have come from Tchamadeu and Etta Eyong, while established star Bryan Mbeumo and emerging talent Carlos Baleba have both impressed, earning Player of the Match awards for their influential displays.

Who are Morocco’s best players?

Right winger Brahim Diaz has been Morocco’s standout performer at the AFCON 2025.

The Real Madrid player is the tournament’s top scorer with four goals, finding the net in each of Morocco’s four matches and underlining his status as their most decisive attacking threat.

Striker Ayoub El Kaabi has also caught the eye, with his acrobatic finishes drawing admiration from fans and pundits alike, chipping in with two goals to bolster Morocco’s front line.

Achraf Hakimi, widely regarded as the world’s best right-back, missed the first two matches due to an ankle injury, but is back to full match fitness, having made his first start of the tournament in the first knockout fixture.

Cameroon and Morocco form guides

Cameroon: W-W-D-W-L

Morocco: W-W-D-W-W

Head-to-head

Cameroon and Morocco have met in 13 previous encounters across competitive and friendly games.

Cameroon dominate the head-to-head record with seven wins, while four games ended in a draw. Morocco have won only twice.

When did Cameroon and Morocco last meet?

The teams last met in February 2021 at the Africa Nations Championship, commonly known as CHAN, in a semifinal tie. Morocco won that game 4-0.

Have Cameroon ever won an AFCON title?

Yes. Cameroon are one of Africa’s major forces in the tournament. They have won the title five times: 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017.

They are the second-most successful team in AFCON behind Egypt, who have seven titles.

Have Morocco ever won an AFCON title?

Yes. Morocco won their first and only title in 1976. At that time, Morocco were only the second North African team to win the continental championship after Egypt.

Cameroon team news

Cameroon’s coach, David Pagou, could be without midfielder Darlin Yongwa after he came off injured only 21 minutes into the last-16 fixture.

Cameroon’s predicted lineup

Devis Epassy; Che Malone, Samuel Kotto, Nouhou Tolo; Junior Tchamadeu, Arthur Avom, Carlos Baleba, Mahamadou Nagida; Bryan Mbeumo, Christian Kofane, Danny Namaso

Morocco team news

Morocco coach Walid Regragui will be without attacking midfielder Azzedine Ounahi, who has been ruled out of the tournament with a calf injury.

“He has a tear in his calf and can’t play at the AFCON. He is unavailable for five to six weeks,” Regragui confirmed after the game against Tanzania. “He injured himself in training. It is an old injury that he had with Girona, and the scar has opened up again.”

Morocco’s predicted lineup

Yassine Bounou; Achraf Hakimi, Nayef Aguerd, Adam Masina, Noussair Mazraoui; Bilal El Khannouss, Neil El Aynaoui, Ismael Saibari; Brahim Diaz, Ayoub El Kaabi, Abde Ezzalzouli

Washington, DC – As the global outcry over the US abduction of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro continues to grow, officials in Washington are relying on the United States’ own criminal charges to justify its military operation.

But experts stress that countries cannot use their own indictments to attack another state, rejecting framing Maduro’s “capture” as a legal arrest.

“There’s a very clear limit on enforcement jurisdiction internationally, and that is that one state cannot enforce its law on the territory of another state unless that state gives its consent,” said Margaret Satterthwaite, United Nations special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.

“So if a state, for example, harboured someone that the US considered a fugitive, the US could approach that state and seek its consent to arrest them and bring them back to the US to stand trial. But it cannot go into another country without that state’s consent and grab up an individual, even if they are indicted properly by the US court system.”

Maduro was indicted by the US Justice Department in 2020 on drug and gun charges. He made his first court appearance in New York on Monday after his abduction and professed his innocence, saying that he was “kidnapped”.

Another international law issue that arises with Maduro’s abduction is the immunity of heads of state and other high-ranking officials from prosecution and civil penalties abroad – a principle that has been affirmed by the International Court of Justice and previously acknowledged by Washington.

“So not only is the US extending enforcement jurisdiction without the consent of Venezuela, but the US is also grabbing up a high state official and saying we have the right to simply take this person out of their position and put them on trial in the US,” Satterthwaite told Al Jazeera.

International courts are an exception to head-of-state immunity. In 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over war crime charges in Gaza.

The US has imposed sanctions on ICC officials for investigating Israel.

The US position

That legal consensus, however, has not stopped US President Donald Trump’s aides and allies from arguing that the abduction of Maduro was a mere law enforcement operation, not an act of aggression against another country.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton likened US special forces abduction in Caracas to law enforcement officers arresting a suspected drug trafficker in the US, as he argued that the White House did not have to inform the US Congress of the attack.

“That’s not the kind of thing that you expect advance notice to Congress for,” Cotton told the Hugh Hewitt Show on Monday.

“Nor, for that matter, do I expect advance notice every time the executive carries out an arrest of a drug trafficker, whether it’s in Venezuela or in Arkansas.”

Hours after the operation on Saturday, US Vice President JD Vance also invoked Maduro’s indictment as the legal basis for the US attack.

“And PSA [public service announcement] for everyone saying this was ‘illegal’: Maduro has multiple indictments in the United States for narcoterrorism,” Vance wrote on X.

“You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.”

Republican Senator Mike Lee initially questioned the domestic legality of the military action without congressional authorisation on Saturday.

But he later said that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told him that the violence was “deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant” – an explanation that appeared to satisfy the senator’s concern.

But Yusra Suedi, assistant professor in International law at the University of Manchester, stressed that the attack on Venezuela violates the UN Charter, which prohibits “the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state”.

“A state cannot lawfully justify violating international law by citing its own domestic law. And this is a cardinal principle of international law,” said Suedi.

For his part, Ian Hurd, a professor of political science at Northwestern University, dismissed the notion that US forces were conducting a law-enforcement operation.

“It’s silly for the American government to purport that this is simply the execution of an arrest warrant,” Hurd told Al Jazeera.

“It would require, then, that you imagine that the Canadian government might issue an arrest warrant for Trump for fraud or sexual harassment and send the forces to bomb the White House to extract him to take him back to Canada for trial.”

He added that international law is unambiguous in saying that governments cannot use force against other countries to advance their goals.

“So it’s very clearly illegal under international law. It’s simply an overthrow of a government by a neighbour using military force,” Hurd told Al Jazeera.

Question of legitimacy

In the wake of the abduction of Maduro, some supporters of the move have argued that Maduro lacks legitimacy due to the alleged voter fraud that took place in the last election, which the opposition claims to have documented.

Even before the US raid, opposition figure Maria Corina Machado said removing Maduro would not amount to regime change because Venezuelans had already voted against the president.

But experts say Washington’s assessment of Maduro’s legitimacy is irrelevant to the illegality of the strike.

He was Venezuela’s head of state at the time of his abduction, a fact recognised by the US Justice Department in its 2026 indictment, which calls Maduro “Venezuela’s president and now de facto ruler”.

Satterthwaite, the UN rapporteur, said that while there are “serious concerns” with the 2024 elections, the US itself has treated Maduro as Venezuela’s leader.

In January, Trump sent his envoy Richard Grenell to meet Maduro for talks on accepting deportation flights of undocumented Venezuelans in the US.

“If we allowed one government to go around the world saying, ‘Well, this person is legitimate, this is not. And since he’s not, I’m going to go grab him,’ you can see what kind of chaos would ensue,” Satterthwaite said.

She added that the legitimacy of many governments across the world can be questioned over fraudulent elections, lack of elections or ascension to power via a coup. “That does not allow another individual government unilaterally to decide that it can go and grab up the head of that government,” she said.

Maduro’s government has been accused of major human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests of dissidents and torture.

“I, of course, would be in favour of measures of accountability for the [Venezuelan] government, but not in this reckless kind of Wild West manner that we’ve seen play out here,” Satterthwaite told Al Jazeera.

The Noriega case

Some defenders of the abduction of Maduro over US charges have claimed that the move has a legal precedent.

“Critics calling President Trump’s capture of Nicolas Maduro unprecedented and illegal have short memories. We’ve done this before, and the courts blessed it,” an associate professor of business law at Georgia College and State University wrote in a Wall Street Journal column.

He was referring to the US invasion of Panama and the seizure of its President Manuel Noriega in 1989-1990. Noriega stood trial and was convicted of drug charges in the US.

Satterthwaite said the capture of Noriega had its own legal issues under international law, and it is not entirely analogous to the abduction of Maduro.

“That also was illegal, and therefore doesn’t help us at all to make the comparison,” she told Al Jazeera.

The UN General Assembly had condemned the US invasion of Panama.

Satterthwaite said in the case of Panama, Washington attempted to make a jurisdictional argument by saying that Noriega was not the country’s leader, and that the US was acting with the consent of the proper head of state at that time, President-elect Guillermo Endara.

“It’s important to note that at that moment in Panama, the National Assembly there had actually declared a state of war against the US, so there was already an engagement between the two states,” Satterthwaite said.