Sportmonks Blogs

The Africa Cup of Nations is happening in Morocco from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026. This is the first time the tournament will take place over the festive period, running right through Christmas and the New Year. With 24 teams battling for the top prize in African football, this year’s competition is set to be full of excitement, big surprises, and memorable moments.

The draw is complete. The groups are fixed. Now comes the part that truly matters: football. On paper, the groups are sorted neatly by seeding and confederation rules. In reality, they are sorted by narrative, by history, by old grudges, by the specific 11 players on each pitch, and how they are built to dismantle each other. The 2026 World Cup has 104 matches ahead. Some will be routine group-stage formalities. Most, however, are not. Most carry significant weight: a 24-year-old injury that needs avenging, a defending champion testing their dominance, an underdog nation proving they belong, or a generational talent’s final World Cup.

It was a quiet, inevitable event where 48 nations (not the familiar 32) learned their fate. The largest World Cup draw in history unfolded at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and with it came a dramatic change to who gets to dream and how far those dreams can stretch. For the first time since 1998, FIFA did not draw groups for a 32-team tournament. Instead, they drew for something far bigger, more complex, and infinitely more unpredictable: a vast, three-nation spectacle spanning 104 matches over 39 days. The World Cup just got very real.

Fantasy football has evolved from a casual hobby into a data-driven powerhouse of fan engagement. Modern platforms thrive on real-time, accurate stats that keep players hooked and gameplay dynamic. With Sportmonks’ Fantasy Football API, you can power that experience, from live events to global league coverage.

For a long time, football has been ruled by Europe’s biggest leagues and famous players. But things are changing. Across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, new leagues and fans are growing fast. As football becomes more global, the data behind it needs to keep up too. It’s no longer enough to track only Europe as apps, media, and fantasy platforms need data from everywhere to tell the full story of the game.