{"id":412058,"date":"2026-01-14T10:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/412058\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T10:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T10:05:18","slug":"the-athletics-weekly-live-coverage-nfl-divisional-round-afcon-final-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/412058\/","title":{"rendered":"The Athletic\u2019s weekly live coverage: NFL divisional round, AFCON final and more"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Things are heating up across the world of sports, and The Athletic\u2019s live coverage is following all the action. From the divisional round of the NFL playoffs to the final games of AFCON, you won\u2019t want to miss any of the action.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our extensive live coverage from each event features the latest news, buildup, play-by-play action, reaction, analysis and more. You can share your views, predictions and questions with us by emailing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6968889\/2026\/01\/14\/nfl-playoffs-afcon-final\/mailto:live@theathletic.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">live@theathletic.com<\/a> \u2014 and your responses could be featured in our coverage, so stay tuned and get involved.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here is the full live schedule through Sunday, Jan. 18.<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday<\/p>\n<p>AFCON semi-final \u2013 Senegal vs Egypt<\/p>\n<p>A rematch of the 2021 AFCON final, in which Senegal beat Egypt on penalties after a goalless draw. Senegal are hoping to reach the final for the third time in the span of four tournaments, while Egypt are in search of their first title since their three-peat in 2006, 2008 and 2010.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-6961875 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2255185951-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Egypt forward Mohamed Salah\" width=\"2560\" height=\"2048\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\n      Mohamed Salah and Egypt will face Senegal for a spot in the final of AFCON. (Mohamed Tageldin \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>AFCON semi-final \u2013 Nigeria vs Morocco<\/p>\n<p>Hosts Morocco are hoping to reach the final for just the third time overall and first since 2004, while perennial powerhouses Nigeria are seeking to return to the final after losing to hosts Ivory Coast two years ago. Nigeria have reached the final eight times, trailing only Egypt and Ghana for the most all-time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Saturday<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United vs Manchester City<\/p>\n<p>Manchester United, who have appointed their former player Michael Carrick as head coach until the end of the season, are in search of their first win since firing Ruben Amorim. Manchester City, meanwhile, are trying to keep pace with Arsenal in the title race, currently sitting six points back of the league leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 8 a.m. GMT.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NFL divisional round \u2013 Bills vs. Broncos<\/p>\n<p>The Bills squeaked past the Jaguars in the wild-card round, earning their first road playoff win in decades. They face a tougher task on Saturday as they head to Mile High to take on the top-seeded Broncos, who have the benefit of coming off of a bye.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NFL divisional round \u2013 49ers vs. Seahawks<\/p>\n<p>The NFC\u2019s top seed is in action as well on Saturday as the Seahawks host the 49ers. San Francisco went into Philadelphia in the wild-card round and came away with a dramatic victory, but the 49ers will need to step their game up if they\u2019re to avoid a repeat of Seattle\u2019s dominant victory over them in Week 18.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 2 p.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-6926079 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2253830317-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\n      Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks will host the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday. (Jared C. Tilton \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>Sunday<\/p>\n<p>AFCON final<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations concludes as the tournament will crown the champions of the continent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 7 a.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NFL divisional round \u2013 Texans vs. Patriots<\/p>\n<p>A battle between two impressive defenses \u2013 the Texans allowed the Steelers to score only six points in the wild-card round, but the Patriots did even better, holding the Chargers to just three points. This one is sure to be a slugfest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 9 a.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>NFL divisional round \u2013 Rams vs. Bears<\/p>\n<p>The divisional round concludes with a matchup between two teams coming off wildly dramatic wins this past weekend. The Rams just barely escaped Carolina with a late victory over the Panthers to avoid a massive upset, while the Bears overcame an 18-point deficit against their bitter rivals the Packers to record the largest comeback in franchise playoff history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Our coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Things are heating up across the world of sports, and The Athletic\u2019s live coverage is following all the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-412058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}