It is a historic summit, far from the standards for an African Cup of Nations. The 2025-2026 edition of the CAN, completed on Sunday with a chaotic victory for Senegal over Morocco (1-0, ap) in Rabat, generated record amounts of bets on platforms approved in France.
According to figures sent to Parisien-Aujourd’hui in France by the National Gaming Authority (ANJ), the market regulator, a total of 177 million euros were bet during the competition. For comparison, the 2023 CAN caused 77 million euros in online betting, and the 2021 edition 62 million euros.
A record therefore, well beyond the overall increase in sums invested in the sector in two years, since this is around 20%. Here, bettors bet more than double than during CAN 2023, won by Ivory Coast.
The reasons for such an increase are still difficult to analyze, but the competition could have benefited from the calendar of the competition, organized in part during the Ligue 1 break this time, but also on the popularity of this edition which generated audience records for its main broadcaster in France, beIN Sports.
The Morocco-Nigeria half ahead of the final
The sum obviously remains lower than that of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (597 million euros put online) and Euro 2024 (650 million euros). These figures do not take into account the amounts wagered in physical points of sale.
In detail, it was the semi-final between Morocco and Nigeria, won on penalties by the Atlas Lions, which generated the most bets, with nearly 8.3 million euros in stakes. Sunday’s final comes in second place with 7.8 million bets.
The CAN strongly launches the year 2026 in the sports betting sector in France. The market expects its peak during the Football World Cup organized in North America this summer (June 11 – July 19).
