Tapsoba and Burkina Faso faced Mauritiana in their first match in Group D. It looked for a long time like being an opening draw, but Aston Villa's Bertrand Traoré snatched the three points with a penalty in the 96th minute. The points were then shared against Algeria, with a last-minute goal again deciding the outcome - although this time in favour of the Algerians, who made it 2-2 in stoppage time. In their last group encounter, Burkina Faso lost 2-0 to Angola, meaning they finished second in Group D with four points. Tapsoba played every minute of all three games.
Morocco started the tournament with a 3-0 win against Tanzania. Adli came on in the 71st minute of the Group F opener with the score at 1-0, and set up the second goal for Azzedine Ounahi shortly after. In their second match, the North Africans had to settle for a 1-1 draw against DR Congo, with Adli again being introduced in the latter stages. Morocco sealed top spot in the group with a 1-0 victory against Zambia, with Adli coming on at half-time.
The host nation are also in the last 16. A 2-0 win over Guinea in the opening match of the tournament proved to be enough, despite subsequent 1-0 and 4-0 defeats to Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. Kossounou watched all three games from the bench. Ivory Coast progressed to the round of 16 as one of the four best third-placed sides.
The last-16 ties will be played from Saturday to Tuesday (27-30 January). Tapsoba and Burkina Faso take on Mali, while Kossounou and Ivory Coast are up against Senegal. Should both win, the two Leverkusen centre-backs will then come up against each other in the quarter-finals. Adli and Morocco, meanwhile, face South Africa.
The quarter-finals will take place on 2 and 3 February, the semi-finals on 7 February. After the third-place playoff on 10 February, the final will be played the next day at 21:00 CET.
THE ROUND OF 16 AT A GLANCE (all times CET)
Odilon Kossounou (Ivory Coast):
29.01, 21:00: Senegal v Ivory Coast
Edmond Tapsoba (Burkina Faso):
30.01, 18:00: Mali v Burkina Faso
Amine Adli (Morocco):
30.01, 21:00: Morocco v South Africa
With the European season ticket, fans can follow and support the Werkself on the European stage during the 2026/27 season – and are guaranteed a ticket and a seat for every UEL home match at the BayArena, right up to and including a potential semi-final. In addition, holders of the European season ticket save 20 per cent on each UEL ticket.
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Bayer 04 Women warmed up for the start of the Bundesliga season with an emphatic 7-0 victory over Belgian top-flight club Standard Liège on Saturday afternoon. Over four periods of 30 minutes, Cornelia Kramer, Lilla Turanyi and Valentina Mädl each netted a brace for the dominant Werkself, after Loreen Bender had opened the scoring. Roberto Pätzold's side kick off their league campaign at RB Leipzig in eight days.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of the 1-2 loss in the friendly match at Nottingham Forest...
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The Werkself suffered a first defeat in the current pre-season fixtures. The sixth friendly of the summer ended in 2-1 reverse at Premier League Nottingham Forest. The English side took an early lead (4’) but Patrik Schick levelled just after the half-hour mark (32’). Nothing much happened after that, and the match looked set to end in a draw. However, the hosts managed to score the winning goal late on (90').
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