{"id":46225,"date":"2025-12-30T02:33:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=46225"},"modified":"2025-12-30T02:33:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T02:33:56","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaign2025-afcon-group-b-permutations-how-zimbabwe-can-reach-the-round-of-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2025\/12\/30\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaign2025-afcon-group-b-permutations-how-zimbabwe-can-reach-the-round-of-16\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 AFCON Group B permutations: How Zimbabwe can reach the Round of 16"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"soccer24-advanced-banner soccer24-banner-type-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1767062035_368_2025-AFCON-Group-B-permutations-How-Zimbabwe-can-reach-the.jpeg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Banner2image\" class=\"soccer24-banner-image\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Zimbabwe\u2019s hopes of reaching the Round of 16 at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations hinge on Monday\u2019s decisive Group B game against neighbours South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Egypt have already sealed their qualification in the group with 6 points after beating both Zimbabwe and South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa sit second with 3 points, while Angola and Zimbabwe take third and fourth place, respectively, with 1 point apiece.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CAF AFCON qualification rules<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From the group stage, the top two teams in each group automatically qualify for the Round of 16. In addition, the four best third-placed teams across all six groups also progress.<\/p>\n<p>Tiebreakers in AFCON group standings are applied in this order:<\/p>\n<p>1. Points in head-to-head matches among tied teams.<\/p>\n<p>2. Goal difference in head-to-head matches.<\/p>\n<p>3. Goals scored in head-to-head matches.<\/p>\n<p>4. Goal difference in all group matches.<\/p>\n<p>5. Goals scored in all group matches.<\/p>\n<p>6. If still tied, disciplinary points will apply.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zimbabwe\u2019s path to the Round of 16<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A win against Bafana Bafana, coupled with either a draw or defeat for Angola against Egypt, would guarantee the Warriors a place in the Round of 16. That outcome would see Zimbabwe leapfrog into second place.<\/p>\n<p>Even if Zimbabwe finish third, 4 points is a strong total that should be enough to be one of the four best third-placed teams across all groups.<\/p>\n<p>A draw would see the Warriors end on 2 points but to finish third, Angola should loose and remain at 1 point, while South Africa would go to 4 points and finish second behind Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>Zimbabwe on 2 points could still qualify as a third-placed team, but it would heavily depend on overall comparison with other third-placed teams across other groups. This is a very unlikely path to Round of 16.<\/p>\n<p>Third-place qualifiers are ranked by:<\/p>\n<p>1. Points<\/p>\n<p>2. Goal difference<\/p>\n<p>3. Goals scored<\/p>\n<p>A loss will get the Warriors eliminated as they will finish bottom or third depending on Angola\u2019s result. One point is almost certainly too few to qualify either as a second-placed or best third-placed team across the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><h3 class=\"jp-relatedposts-headline\"><em>Related Posts<\/em><\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#AFCON #Group #permutations #Zimbabwe #reach<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zimbabwe\u2019s hopes of reaching the Round of 16 at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations hinge on Monday\u2019s decisive Group&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[942,409,9467,2233,113],"class_list":["post-46225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-example-3","tag-afcon","tag-group","tag-permutations","tag-reach","tag-zimbabwe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46226,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46225\/revisions\/46226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}