Morocco Gears Up to Host Largest-Ever Africa Cup of Nations in 2025

Morocco aims to organize the best AFCON in the history of the competition. For the first time, the matches of the continental tournament will be played in nine stadiums spread across six cities: Rabat, Casablanca, Agadir, Tangier, Fez and Marrakech. Each stadium will host a single match per day, instead of two in previous editions.

The bulk of the competition will be played in the Moroccan capital, which hosts four of the nine selected stadiums: the Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex (69,000 seats), the Rabat Olympic Stadium (21,000 seats), the El Barid Stadium (18,000 seats) and the Prince Hériter Moulay El Hassan Sports Complex (22,000 seats). In the other cities, the selected stadiums are: the Mohammed V Complex in Casablanca (45,000 seats), the Grand Stadium of Marrakech (41,245 seats), the Tangier Stadium (75,600 seats), the Agadir Stadium (41,144 seats) and the Fez Sports Complex (35,468 seats).

Another novelty of this AFCON: the 24 participating teams will be housed in fixed base camps comprising 5-star hotels and training grounds that meet CAF standards. Each team will have its own training ground for the duration of the competition. In total, 32 base camps are planned in Tangier, Tetouan, Al Hoceima, Nador, Saïdia, Larache, Fez, Ifrane, Rabat, El Jadida, Marrakech, Ouarzazate, Taghazout and Essaouira, said Fouzi Lekjaa, the president of the Moroccan Football Federation, in a recent press statement.

"Morocco is the ideal choice to host an exceptional edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. I am convinced that this edition will be the best in the history of the competition," thinks Patrice Motsepe, the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The draw for the group stage of the 2025 Morocco CAN, which took place on Monday in Rabat, places the Atlas Lions in Group A, with Zambia, the Comoros and Mali. A "difficult" group, according to former Moroccan international Mustapha Hadji.