One month of compelling African football reaches its climax in Rabat on Sunday, as Africa Cup of Nations hosts Morocco face off with Senegal to determine the winners of the 35th edition of the AFCON.

The final - which is as many people had predicted - brings together the two highest placed teams in the FIFA World Rankings, where Morocco are 11th and Senegal are 19th, and will see a collision between arguably the two biggest success stories in the continent's game over the last ten years.

Morocco must protect 'image of Africa' in AFCON final - Coach
Ed Dove

Senegal has one of the best line-ups in world football, don't even argue
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Senegal demand 'equal treatment' for AFCON final
Associated Press
For Senegal, finalists in three of the last four editions, victory would validate the federation's decision to replace AFCON-winning head coach Aliou Cisse with Pape Thiaw in 2024, while also cementing the standing of this generation as one of the most successful African football has ever known, given their consistency at the Nations Cup and the new ground they've broken with an unprecedented three World Cup appearances in a row.

There is no doubting, however, that victory on Sunday means much, much more to Morocco, to the point where head coach Walid Regragui has already pointed out that anything other than victory for the hosts on January 18 will be seen as failure.

"We're favourites and we don't hide from that," the Morocco head coach told ESPN ahead of the tournament. "We can't tell you we're not, but the hardest thing, the country who will have the most difficulty bringing home the cup is Morocco.

"Why is there so much pressure? Because if we don't win [the title], we'll say that we've lost."