Africa Cup of Nations 2025 will for long be talked about as a tournament that took the standards of hosting the coveted Championship to a whole new level. Morocco raised the bar so high and it will take years for another country to either match or better what the North African nation did. From Fez to Agadir, Tangier to Marrakesh, Casablanca and the capital Rabat, Morocco outdid themselves offering a month-long football extravaganza. Beyond the action on the pitch which perhaps the global audience that followed the tournament through television was able to see, there was a lot behind the cameras that the Royal Kingdom of Morocco put in place to have a memoriable tournament.
For Morocco, AFCON was just a precursor to check on their preparedness in co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal. The Royal Kingdom has been clear and intentional, investing about $16 billion to stage the tournament whose direct return is roughly in the region of $3-4 billion. However, hosting such events goes beyond just nice stadiums, it is the supporting systems like transport, security, tourism and the hospitality industry that equally matter.
Whereas, the level of organisation at AFCON 2025 took many by surprise, Morocco have been building towards this development over the years. Five consecutive bids to host the World Cup indicates, the country was intentional and even when the bids were not successful, they kept working towards the required standards. It is not surprising that CAF has often run to Morocco for a bailout when other African countries fail to host tournaments. There was a time in recent years when literally half of the continent was playing AFCON/World Cup Qualifiers in Morocco because such countries did not have proper stadiums back home.
Besides AFCON 2025, Morocco has and continues to host several tournaments including the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations with the 2026 edition coming up in March, the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup for the next five years, the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup, the Futsal Africa Cup of Nations, the U17 Africa Cup of Nations among others. So, when the opportunity to host AFCON 2025 came, Morocco envisaged it as a platform to show off what they have built over the years. It felt like a long journey folding back towards home, like a country finally receiving an opportunity it has chased for decades.
In reality, AFCON 2025 only showed that Morocco is thinking for the future rather than single-tournament cycles. The just concluded tournament served its purpose as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup whose weight exceeds anything the country has hosted before. Football being a mass sport attracts a lot of attention and global appeal and Morocco believes this can be a transformer of the country in so many aspects.
The investment in the transport sector has been huge over the past few years. The Al Boraq trains that pace through different cities around Morocco have eased on the movement of people. For instance the speed train moves up to 320 kilometers per hour. A decade ago, moving from Casablanca to Tangier which is 323 kilometres in under 2 hours seemed like a far-fetched fantasy. Today, it is a seamless reality, achieved through a multi-billion-dollar investment that has reshaped domestic travel. Such an investment goes beyond just hosting football tournaments. but what the game or sports in general provides are the deadlines and justification needed to accelerate the work.
Additionally, airports in Casablanca, Rabat and other places were refurbished to meet the high volumes of passengers that flew in for AFCON. Mohammed V International Airport which is the biggest gateway to Morocco accounting to 31% of total passenger traffic reached a new record of 11.5 million in 2025 much of which was attributed to AFCON 2025. In their projections, Morocco want to hit 20 million by 2030 when they host the World Cup.
The influx of fans, teams, and international delegations generates increased demand for hotels, restaurants, transport, and local services, which in turn generates revenue opportunities across multiple industries.
With such development, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda who are the next hosts of AFCON come next year have a lot to admire and copy from Morocco. It is good all the aforementioned countries had delegations in Morocco during the tournament to try and benchmark.
In terms of stadiums, there is commitment from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to erect good facilities. Hoima City Stadium in Uganda is already done and focus will now shift to Mandela National Stadium to give it a facelift, Kenya is soon completing the Talanta Stadium but also working on Moi International Sports Complex, Kasarani while Tanzania is working on Samia Suluhu Hassan Stadium in Arusha with refurbishment of Benjamin Mkapa and Amaan Stadium in Zanzibar ib the offing. But for tournaments like AFCON, stadiums go beyond just concrete, steel, and the grass. Things like stadium acess routes, emergence areas, media tribunes etc matter a lot.
Having three nations hosting the touurnament means the transport network should be well connected. The good thing all the three countries have national carriers which could ease of the movements but the road and rail network is where the big challenge lies.
The only confidence for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is that countries like Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Gabon have hosted AFCON in recent times and they are not any better in terms of the economy, infrastructure and facilities among others.
