FIFA Club World Cup: Ugandan Journalist’s Unforgettable Moroccan Adventure

"Due to my affinity for sports, I have had the privilege of traveling the world to attend global and continental football, golf, cricket, athletics competitions, etc. Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, Egypt, Qatar, England and the United States, I’ve been there, some countries more than once. I’ve been to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. But my recent trip to Morocco was unique," writes sports reporter Allan Darren Kyeyune in the columns of Daily Monitor.

On the recommendation of a Kenyan friend, a Europe-based consultant from Quick-Witted Management Services, the Ugandan journalist was invited to attend the FIFA Club World Cup. On February 2, he takes a Turkish Airways flight from Entebbe to Istanbul to reach Morocco. Five hours later, the plane lands at Casablanca airport. A representative of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) welcomes him as he gets off the plane. After the usual formalities, he gets into a car, heading for Agadir.

Allan arrives at his destination. He is staying at the Hyatt Regency hotel, where he meets Ghanaian friends Saddick Adams and Thierry Nyann, as well as Fred Kaweesi from New Vision and the sports editor-in-chief of Uganda’s Nation Media Group, Ismail Dhakaba Kigongo, during breakfast. A few hours later, he boards one of the four buses chartered for Marrakech. "After a four-hour drive, we checked in at the Kenzi Farah Rose Garden [...], the Ugandan journalist recounts. [...] We took a short flight the next morning to reach the capital Rabat, in order to be on time for the match" between Wydad Casablanca, the defending champion, and Al-Hilal, which ended in a draw (1