Which FPL Players are Heading to AFCON 2025 and Who Should You Worry About Most?

I’ve been glued to the transfer and team-news feeds this week because AFCON is looming, and for FPL managers that means a short, brutal schedule of planning or panic. If you’re like me (a little obsessive, mainly caffeine-fuelled), here’s a straight, no-nonsense breakdown of the AFCON FPL players you need to track, what the AFCON FPL rule changes mean for your squad, and how those shiny “FPL AFCON 5 transfers” work in practice.

First, the basics you need to lock in. AFCON 2025 runs from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026, and from a Fantasy perspective, it overlaps with Gameweeks 17–22. The Premier League has confirmed that FPL managers will be given up to five free transfers ahead of the tournament, a deliberate tweak so we can cope with mass absences without boiling our brains over hits. If you haven’t already read the official Scout note, it’s worth bookmarking. 

Okay, who’s actually going? A lot of them. One handy roundup estimates around 42 Premier League players are eligible for AFCON squads this year, which is massive for team selection. If you need help rating your team, feel free to use our FPL Team Rater Tool. Big names that jump out (and which you’ll see being bought and sold across mini-leagues) include Mohamed Salah (Egypt), Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon), Ismaïla Sarr (Senegal), Iliman Ndiaye (Senegal), Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Omar Marmoush and Rayan Aït-Nouri (both linked with AFCON nations), plus plenty of lower-owned but useful options like Dango Ouattara, Lyle Foster and Yoane Wissa. Those calls are already reshaping short-term fixture plans for multiple clubs.

Who should you worry about most?

Here’s how I’m thinking about it, like I’m sitting on the sofa scrolling through my own team:

1. Premium midfielders/forwards with high ownership — Salah and Mbeumo are the headline risks because they’re expensive and heavily owned. Losing them to AFCON creates a big hole to plug, especially if you don’t have funds or bench options. The Premier League Scout highlights both as the most impactful departures, so consider whether you’re buying them for short-term fixtures or sitting them out until they return. 
2. Rotation magnets at big clubs — players like Omar Marmoush or squad attackers who already face rotation are double-trouble. If they go to AFCON, you not only lose the player but also lose a potential minutes alternative who might otherwise fill in.
3. Teams with multiple call-ups — Sunderland, Wolves, Nottingham Forest, and others face multiple absentees. If your core relies on one of those squads, expect weakened starting XIs and scramble for filler players from unaffected teams.

Now the practical bit, the AFCON FPL rule you need to use: the league will top up your free transfers so you can make up to five moves immediately after the GW15 deadline (so aim to go into that deadline with zero banked transfers if you want to maximise value). In plain terms: plan your bench, identify obvious cheap > starter swaps, and resist knee-jerk hits unless the differential is screaming. The Premier League guidance lays this out cleanly.

Final tip from my own messy notebook: map out two mini-plans, one for short-term punts (use those extra transfers), one for longer-term structure (don’t blow your wildcard unless you get a real window). The AFCON window is chaotic, but with the FPL AFCON 5 transfers buffer, you can be opportunistic rather than frantic.