In the AFCON quarter-final, Egypt defeated Cote d'Ivoire 3-2 to advance to the semi-finals.
This marked Egypt’s 14th qualification for the AFCON semi-finals, with only Nigeria having made more appearances at this stage in history (16 times).
The defending champions Cote d'Ivoire were eliminated by Egypt, extending the recent trend of AFCON holders failing to retain their title.
The performance of defending champions in the AFCON since 2010 is shown in the table below:
| Defending Champions | Year | AFCON Performance | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Egypt | 2012 | Did not qualify | ❌ |
| Zambia | 2013 | Group stage | ❌ |
| Nigeria | 2015 | Did not qualify | ❌ |
| Ivory Coast | 2017 | Group stage | ❌ |
| Cameroon | 2019 | Round of 16 | ❌ |
| Algeria | 2021 | Group stage | ❌ |
| Senegal | 2023 | Round of 16 | ❌ |
| Ivory Coast | 2025 | Quarter-finals | ❌ |
Mohamed Salah contributed 4 goals and 1 assist in this AFCON campaign, being involved in 5 goals in total — the highest number of goal involvements for him in a single AFCON tournament.
Salah’s goal involvements across all his AFCON appearances are as follows:
| Year | Goals + Assists Involvement |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2019 | 2 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2 |
| 2025 | 5 |
