Casablanca Fans Upset Over Lack of National Team Matches at Iconic Stadium for 2025 Africa Cup

According to the announcement made by CAF, the Mohammed V complex, known as "Donor", will host the third-place match and the semi-finals will take place in Rabat and Tangier, while Casablancans had expected to see the Moroccan team play matches on the pitch of this iconic stadium, in order to allow a large audience to attend and encourage the players. According to them, the support of the supporters during the matches held at the Mohammed V complex motivates the Atlas Lions to give their best on the field in order to obtain a positive result. To assert their position, they recalled that the Casablanca public has been denied access to the Mohammed V complex throughout the sports season, and that it would therefore be appropriate for the national team’s match to be organized at Donor.

Karim Klaybi, a member of the Mohammed V complex monitoring commission, does not fully share their opinion. In a statement to Hespress, he affirmed that matches are indeed scheduled on this pitch and that the national team’s matches will attract a large influx of supporters, which will constitute an additional burden for the stadium and the organizers. The location of the stadium, in the city center, no longer allows to host large matches, he added, specifying that the new stadium of Casablanca will be the Hassan II stadium, which will be built in Mansouria.