CAN 2025: Facing the paradox of "ghost stands", the CAF opens the floodgates

This measure aims to counter a phenomenon that is tarnishing the start of the tournament: the paradox of matches advertised as "sold out" on the online ticketing system, but played in front of empty seats. The most striking example was observed at the Grand Stade d’Agadir. On Monday, during the Egypt-Zimbabwe match, the anthems resonated in front of less than a thousand spectators, before the opening of the gates caused the attendance to rise to more than 28,000 people. The scenario was repeated on Wednesday for Cameroon-Gabon, where the stadium gradually filled up after the start of the match.

From the chaos of ticketing to the "People’s AFCON"

This opening strategy attempts to regulate a situation that had already caused turmoil in Rabat. During the Algeria-Sudan match, although the match was officially "sold out", the stadium sounded hollow at kick-off. This inconsistency had led to wild distributions of tickets and scuffles, particularly in front of the hotel of the Algerian national team, where fans had felt humiliated by a failing organization.

Now institutionalized, this delayed free access is hailed on social networks as the advent of a "People’s AFCON". However, it is not without security risks, causing sudden crowd movements at the gates of the stadiums in some places. An emergency measure that obviously does not concern the matches of Morocco, which continue to be played at full capacity from the warm-up.