Uganda and Tanzania will face each other at the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time ever when they clash in Group C at the Morocco 2025 tournament this evening.
The East African neighbours go into the match under pressure after losing their opening games and knowing that anything short of a positive result could damage their hopes of reaching the knockout stage.
Uganda Cranes were beaten 3–1 by Tunisia in their first outing, while Taifa Stars suffered a narrow 2–1 defeat to Nigeria. The encounter will be played at Al Medina Stadium in Rabat, with kick-off scheduled for 8:30pm Ugandan time.
Cranes head coach Paul Joseph Put has called on his players to quickly put the Tunisia loss behind them and show a strong response against Tanzania.
“We did not start the tournament the way we wanted,” Put said while addressing the media in Rabat. “If you want to progress far at AFCON, you need a good start. Now our focus must be on the next match because it is very important. There is pressure on us, but we must manage it and turn it into a positive performance.”
Uganda and Tanzania know each other well, having met 61 times in all competitions, including friendlies. The Cranes hold the advantage historically, with 33 wins, while Tanzania have won 12 matches and 16 have ended in draws.
Their most recent meetings came during qualification for the 2023 AFCON, where both teams won their home matches 1–0. Despite that, Tanzania went on to qualify for the tournament, finishing second in a group dominated by Algeria, while Uganda missed out.
The match also carries added significance for Uganda, who have never won an AFCON game against a fellow CECAFA opponent. The Cranes previously lost to Ethiopia in the group stages of the 1968 and 1976 tournaments.
For Tanzania, their only previous AFCON match against an East African rival ended in disappointment, as they lost 3–2 to Kenya during the 2019 edition.
