And logic won! After the withdrawal, at the last moment, of Algeria and several other candidate countries, Morocco was designated host country for the 2025 African Cup of Nations. A decision certainly motivated, officially, in part to favor the candidacy of country with Spain and Portugal to host the World Cup in 2030, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) indicated on Wednesday, but which is also justified by the rise in power of the Cherifian kingdom in world football and of its recognized role as organizer of major international sporting events.
It should be noted that currently Morocco is the first African nation in the FIFA rankings, fourth at the last World Cup, and the country has organized two major African competitions: the women’s CAN and U23. There is no doubt that the unifying passion triggered in Morocco, throughout the diaspora but also in the rest of Africa and the Arab world, the exceptional career of the national selection in Qatar also weighed in this choice, just as the solidity of the Shereef kingdom’s file and the influence of the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), Fouzi Lekjaa, also 4th vice-president of CAF.
The Moroccan Football Federation welcomed “exciting news” on X (formerly Twitter), adding: “Get ready for an unforgettable tournament. » Morocco will host an African Cup of Nations (CAN) for the first time since 1988. It had been designated for 2015 before requesting a postponement due to the spread of the Ebola virus. But CAF finally decided to withdraw this attribution and to disqualify the Moroccan team from the competition, in favor of Equatorial Guinea.
Disappointed not to obtain the attribution of the 2026 World Cup, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation has since invested considerably in its infrastructure. 58 million euros were notably paid to make the Mohammed VI National Football Center more modern, the equivalent of the Clairefontaine tricolor.
The kingdom benefited this time from the withdrawal of all other applications – Algeria, Zambia, joint application from Nigeria and Benin –, specified Patrice Motsepe. “The main reason is to support Morocco in its candidacy for the 2030 World Cup”, jointly with Spain and Portugal, explained the CAF president. “Our job is to ensure that Africa is united. We made the decision to grant the 54 votes from the African continent to Morocco,” he insisted. Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile submitted a competing joint application.
For the CAN, the confederation has also “imposed very high standards in terms of infrastructure”. “We are convinced that we can do better,” said Patrice Motsepe.
Another criterion, the CAN must not take place twice in a row in the same region of Africa, with some exceptions, he said. At the end of September 2022, he had to go to Guinea to withdraw from this country the attribution of CAN 2023 – which will finally take place in early 2024 in Ivory Coast – due to “infrastructure and equipment not suitable or ready “.
“One of the key objectives is that the decision that was taken today” promotes “the development of infrastructure and stadiums” and “be a source of enthusiasm among young people,” said Patrice Motsepe.
On Tuesday, Algeria announced that it was withdrawing its candidacy. “This withdrawal is motivated by the new approach of the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) relating to the development strategy of football in Algeria,” she wrote the same day as the installation of its new president, Walid Sadi . The FAF “will now focus its efforts on the reorganization and revitalization of football in Algeria, just as it reiterates its unwavering commitment to the development of African football,” she underlined.
The 2027 edition, with the designation of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, will be played for the first time in East Africa since the 1976 edition in Ethiopia.
The CAN, a competition created in 1957, brings together every two years the 24 African national teams who validated their ticket during qualifying phases involving the 54 CAF member nations.
