Morocco on course to host 2025 Afcon
Morocco has made significant progress in its bid to host the 2025 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), it has emerged.
The North African country has met Fifa’s strict requirements for hosting the expanded Afcon by including specifications for sports facilities, hotels, health and infrastructure, spot checks show.
Several African football legends, led by 1995 Ballon d’Or winner now President of Liberia George Weah, called for Morocco to host the 2025 Afcon finals. Weah, who is the only African to have won the award for the best player in the world, praised Morocco’s investment in football.
He said, “Liberia fully endorses and supports Morocco’s bid to host Afcon 2025. I have made this commitment to King Mohamed VI.”
Morocco recently hosted several continental competitions in its state of the art stadiums. The competitions included Women’s African Nations Championship or Chan 2022.
The country has brought journalists across African countries to appreciate the progress made in all sectors.
During the Morocco tour, journalists appreciated their five main stadiums, 45 000 capacity Casablanca’s Muhammed V Complex, Rabat’s Moulay Abdellah Complex (53 000), Grand Stade de Marrakech (45 240), Agadir’s Stade Adrar (45 480), Grand Stade de Tanger (45 000) and Grand Stade de Fez with a capacity of 37000.
The stadiums are approved by CAF to host international matches and have a video assistant referee (VAR) system.
They are also managed by Sonarges Facility Management Company.
In an interview, Agadier Stadium manager Hicham Allouli said the facilities have a good number of people taking care of them.
He said: “Here we have 65-plus employees who are working, they are able to keep the facility to the highest standard.
“This stadium does not only host matches, there are many activities taking place, including big music shows, a thing that also helps us to generate revenue.”
Fes Stadium director Anasse Erghouni said the coming in of the company to manage the stadium has helped the country to ensure that its stadiums are in good shape.
“This is a small stadium and old, it was inaugurated in 2007, but it is looking as if it was opened just last year. This is because of the management that has been deployed to manage the stadium,” he said.
The country is currently hosting Fifa Club World Cup. The competition was first contested in 2000 as the Fifa Club World Championship. Teams that are participating this year are defending champions Real Madrid of Spain, Flamengo of Brazil, Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, Auckland City FC of New Zealand, Al Hilal Saudi FC, Al Ahly Sporting Club of Egypt and Seattle Sounders FC of America.
