It's been a busy international season already in 2025, as many countries are still trying to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, with the draw scheduled to be set on December 5 in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center.
This is already the third international break of the campaign, with another scheduled for the end of March, but there is an international tournament coming up before the end of the calendar year that won't include a stoppage: the CAF African Cup of Nations.
The tournament is essentially the EUROs for African nations, but for reasons likely having to do with the weather on the continent during the summer, is played in late December/early January every two years.
AFCON 2025 will take place in Morocco, with 30 teams facing off in six groups of four countries beginning on December 21 with a match featuring the host nation and Comoros. The match that impacts Everton most, Senegal v Botswana, will kick off two days later.
That Senegal side, of course, is likely to include Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gana Gueye, two key players in Everton's squad. The other players who play for African sides internationally either did not qualify (Beto for Guinea-Bissau) or are unlikely to be called up (Adam Aznou for the hosts).
This means that Ndiaye and Gana are very likely to miss matches against Arsenal at home (December 20), away to Burnley (December 27), and away to Nottingham Forest (December 30), since their last group match is scheduled for that same Tuesday as the Forest game.
If the Lions of Teranga advance past the group stage, which they are favored to do, then that period could extend into matches at home against Brentford (January 4) and Wolves (January 7), and away to Aston Villa (January 17). The AFCON final is January 18.
Even reaching the semifinal all but assures the duo will miss that run of six matches, with a quarterfinal exit opening the door for a return against Villa.
Either way, David Moyes will need to have a plan for how to fill those sizable gaps in his squad, an especially tall task given the overall depth in the team. And the January transfer window won't provide much, if any, help in this, given how long Everton often take to get deals done.
We'll dive into the ways that Moyes can set up the team to cover for the loss of Ndiaye and Gana, but those are vital players to the success of this Everton side that won't easily be replaced.