Morocco has emerged as a major hub for continental and international sports events, particularly football, following years of investment in hosting, infrastructure and institutional development.
The country hosted the African Nations Championship in 2018, the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2022 and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2023. It went on to stage the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Morocco’s hosting calendar continues this month with the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. The 2026 tournament, featuring 24 teams, will run from Oct. 17 to Nov. 8. Morocco began hosting the competition in 2025, when the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) introduced an annual format for the tournament, and will continue to host it each year through 2029.
Its ambitions extend to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which it will co-host with Spain and Portugal. Ahead of the tournament, Morocco established Fondation Maroc 2030 to coordinate major transport, stadium and tourism infrastructure projects.
Dr. Christos Anagnostopoulos, associate professor and UNESCO chair in governance and social responsibility in sport, said Morocco’s rise reflects decades of planning.
“The short answer is patience,” he said, noting that Morocco first bid for the World Cup in 1989 and continued pursuing hosting opportunities after repeated rejections.
“While waiting, it hosted whatever it could,” he said. “By the time the World Cup arrived, hosting was routine.”
He also pointed to Morocco’s decision to establish Fondation Maroc 2030 as important for maintaining institutional knowledge beyond election cycles.
“Other African countries can copy that structure far more easily than they can copy the stadiums,” he said.
Economic ambitions and risks
Morocco’s sports strategy is closely connected to its tourism and infrastructure ambitions. Government data showed a record 19.8 million tourist arrivals in 2025, up 14% from the previous year, with tourism revenue reaching 124 billion dirhams.
An International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment noted that Morocco’s connectivity and tourism-related infrastructure investments will total 190.3 billion dirhams between 2024 and 2030, including railways, highways and airports.
Anagnostopoulos cautioned against relying solely on government estimates of tournament returns.
“Be careful with the big numbers,” he said. “No host government has ever announced that a tournament lost money, so I would wait for an independent assessment.”
He said tourism growth provides a stronger case for long-term benefits, particularly if visitors are drawn beyond established destinations such as Marrakech and Agadir.
Infrastructure may also have a longer life than the tournaments themselves. Airport capacity is expected to increase from 30 million to 80 million passengers by 2030 as part of broader investment in rail, roads, airports and stadiums.
Still, Anagnostopoulos warned about government borrowing and the long-term cost of maintaining major venues. He highlighted the planned stadium at Benslimane, which is expected to hold more than 115,000 spectators.
“No Moroccan league match will fill it,” he said. “The plan for what happens afterward should be on the table now, not in 2031.”
Women’s Football Expands
Women’s football has become another important part of Morocco’s sports strategy.
In 2022, Morocco became the first North African country to host the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations. The Atlas Lionesses reached the final before advancing to the round of 16 in their FIFA Women’s World Cup debut in 2023.
Dr. Verity Postlethwaite, a researcher specializing in women and sport, said those achievements should be viewed in the context of long-term development.
“They have been playing in it since 2000, so it took 22 years for that moment for Morocco to host such an internationally prestigious women’s sports event,” she said of the 2022 tournament.
Postlethwaite said hosting alone does not guarantee lasting improvements for women. Governments, businesses, charities and sports organizations must invest in programs connected to tournaments, including efforts to increase the number of coaches and expand participation.
She also emphasized starting those programs well before an event begins.
“If you wait until the event happens, a lot of the energy and activities become too big and too complicated,” she said.
Representation within tournament leadership is another consideration. Postlethwaite pointed to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where organizers sought perspectives from women and people from different communities, regions, age groups and disability backgrounds.
“You can’t just have a person on a committee and not listen to them,” she said.
Measuring the Legacy
Determining whether major tournaments create lasting social change remains difficult because many countries lack centralized data tracking participation and representation.
Postlethwaite said researchers can examine the number of women volunteering at events, participation in community programs and whether participants later become players, officials or volunteers in local clubs.
Media visibility is another measure.
“Look for an increased level of visibility outside of the sporting events themselves, ensuring there is consistent coverage about women’s football and participation in women’s sports,” she said.
Morocco’s continued hosting of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup gives the country additional opportunities to build that legacy. The 2026 tournament runs from Oct. 17 to Nov. 7, with Morocco retaining hosting rights through 2029.
Postlethwaite cautioned that research does not yet provide enough evidence to make broad claims about whether women’s sporting events amount to short-term “festival effects” or “gender washing.” She said recent women’s sports events appear to be making more deliberate efforts to create meaningful benefits.
Lessons beyond Morocco
Morocco’s capital-intensive model may be difficult for other African countries to replicate. Postlethwaite said countries should instead pursue events that match their financial resources and development priorities.
“You don’t need to go for the biggest events,” she said. “You need to go for the ones that mean something to women. That’s how you link it to gender equality.”
The challenge for Morocco will be converting a packed calendar of international tournaments into lasting benefits.
The years surrounding the 2030 World Cup will help determine whether new infrastructure, institutional knowledge and opportunities for women strengthen grassroots sport and communities long after the final whistle.
