Yoane Wissa is aiming to become the second Newcastle United star to win AFCON

Add as preferred source on Google

Newcastle United have only had one player win AFCON while playing for the club, but Yoane Wissa will be hoping to make it two.

The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly known as AFCON, will return for the first time in two years this season, with the tournament taking place in Morocco.

Getting underway on December 21, the prestigious tournament runs all the way until January 18, which could leave some Premier League teams without key players for a significant chunk of the season.

Newcastle United will have just one representative at AFCON this time around, with striker Yoane Wissa set to represent DR Congo, though not if Alan Shearer gets his way.

The Newcastle legend has questioned Wissa’s ‘responsibility’ for playing in his country’s World Cup qualifiers in September after not training in the summer with Brentford to force through a move to Newcastle, before then getting injured on international duty.

Wissa has still not made his Newcastle debut since signing for £55m from Brentford on deadline day. When asked about the topic in October, Eddie Howe refused to comment on Shearer’s opinion.

Yet, he will be hoping to become the second player to win the competition while playing his football at St. James’ Park after Cheik Tiote.

• Who is Yoane Wissa? Newcastle United’s £55m Alexander Isak replacement

Cheik Tiote is the only Newcastle United player to win AFCON

Only 22 players have ever won AFCON while playing their club football in the Premier League, with Leeds United duo Lucas Radebe and Phil Masinga the first to do so with South Africa in 1996.

The late, great Tiote won the tournament with the Ivory Coast in 2015, with the ‘golden generation’ finally delivering the trophy for a second time.

The Elephants first won AFCON in 1992 but lost in finals in 2006 and then 2012 before finally getting their hands on it again.

Tiote had played a key role in 2012 and scored the opening penalty in their eventual shoot-out defeat to Zambia. He also grabbed his only goal for his country in their 2-1 quarter-final loss to Nigeria in 2013.

Sadly, his participation in the triumphant 2015 tournament ended after the second game as he picked up an injury that ruled him out for the tournament.

Fellow Premier League stars Yaya Toure and Kolo Toure were also in the squad. The Ivory Coast are the defending champions after winning their third AFCON in 2023.

Tiote died of cardiac arrest aged 30 during a training session in China in 2017.

Every Premier League player who could be at AFCON 2025-26

Some clubs are set to be more affected than others during AFCON.

Newcastle’s fierce rivals, Sunderland, for example, are set to be without a massive nine players during the tournament, and they might have to go and join up with their countries before the first Tyne-Wear derby of the season on December 14.

Here’s how every Premier League club will be impacted by AFCON:

Bournemouth: Amine Adli (Morocco)

Arsenal: None

Aston Villa: Evann Guessand (Ivory Coast)

Brentford: Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria),

Brighton: Carlos Baleba (Cameroon)

Burnley: Axel Tuanzebe (DR Congo), Manuel Benson (Angola), Lyle Foster (South Africa), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia)

Chelsea: None

Crystal Palace: Ismaila Sarr (Senegal), Christantus Uche (Nigeria), Cheick Doucoure (Mali), Chadi Riad (Morocco)

Everton: Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal), Idrissa Gueye (Senegal)

Fulham: Calvin Bassey (Nigeria), Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria)

Leeds: None

Liverpool: Mohamed Salah (Egypt)

Manchester City: Omar Marmoush (Egypt), Rayan Ait-Nouri (Algeria)

Manchester United: Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Andre Onana (Cameroon), Bryan Mbuemo (Cameroon)

Newcastle: Yoane Wissa (DR Congo)

Nottingham Forest: Ibrahim Sangare (Ivory Coast), Taiwo Awoniyi (Nigeria), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast), Ola Aina (Nigeria)

Sunderland: Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Blondy Nna Noukeu (Cameroon), Reinildo Mandava (Mozambique), Habib Diarra (Senegal), Simon Adingra (Ivory Coast), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo), Ahmed Abdullahi (Nigeria), Bertrand Traore (Burkina Faso)

Tottenham: Yves Bissouma (Mali), Pape Matar Sarr (Senegal)

West Ham: El Hadji Malick Diouf (Senegal), Aaron Wan-Bissaka (DR Congo)

Wolves: Marshall Munetsi (Zimbabwe), Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast), Tolu Arokodare (Nigeria), Tawanda Chirewa (Zimbabwe), Jackson Tchatchoua (Cameroon)

Usually, clubs have to release players for international tournaments two weeks before they begin, but Sunderland may be given special dispensation by the countries to keep their stars until after the derby.

Elsewhere, Newcastle will play the impacted Manchester United, Burnley, Crystal Palace and Wolves during the duration of the tournament, as well as Chelsea and Leeds United, who won’t be missing any players.