Burkina Faso arrive at AFCON 2025 as one of the tournament’s perennial disruptors. Rarely among the outright favourites, the Stallions have nonetheless built a reputation over the past decade as a side capable of unsettling more heralded opponents. Since their surprise run to the final in 2013, they have reached two semi-finals and a fourth-place finish, mixing deep runs with occasional disappointments along the way.

This edition feels transitional. Burkina Faso are no longer at the peak of the cycle that carried them to podium finishes in 2017 and 2021, yet they retain enough athleticism, tournament experience, and tactical flexibility to remain dangerous. Group E offers no margin for complacency, and this opener against Equatorial Guinea may prove decisive in shaping their path toward the knockout rounds.

Equatorial Guinea, meanwhile, continue to defy conventional hierarchies. Their fourth-place finish on home soil in 2015 remains their best-ever AFCON performance, but their showing at the last tournament bordered on the extraordinary. Topping a group containing Nigeria and hosts Côte d’Ivoire, including a 4–0 demolition of the latter, cemented their status as one of AFCON’s most unpredictable sides.

Off-field instability has again surrounded Juan Michá’s squad in the build-up, with strikes, suspensions, and managerial upheaval threatening to derail momentum. Yet time and again, Equatorial Guinea have shown an ability to compartmentalise chaos and perform once the ball starts rolling. In a group where qualification could hinge on fine margins, they will view Burkina Faso as beatable rather than intimidating.