Morocco began planning the infrastructure and operational framework for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations more than four years before kickoff, anchoring the tournament within a broader national strategy to modernize sports facilities and strengthen African football, according to the tournament’s organizing committee.
The tournament, which kicked off on Dec. 21, 2025, and is scheduled to conclude on Jan. 18, 2026, has drawn sustained attendance across host cities and broad approval from officials, teams, and supporters.
The early phase focused on stadium construction, logistics readiness, and coordination mechanisms, drawing on long-term public investment in transport, aviation, security, and hospitality.
The result was a tournament hosted across nine stadiums, a first in the history of the Africa Cup of Nations, with each participating team assigned a dedicated training facility.
Several venues were completed on compressed timelines. The Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat, which hosted the opening match, final, and Morocco’s fixtures, was built in 14 months.
The City Stadium and Moulay Hassan Stadium were each completed within a year, timelines the organizers described as record-setting for projects of that scale.
Beyond venues, Morocco entered the tournament with transport corridors, airports, hotels, and security systems already in place, reflecting what the committee described as “a long-standing strategy to modernize national infrastructure.”
These assets supported fan movement between host cities and enabled high-capacity matchday operations.
Preparations also incorporated lessons from recent continental tournaments, particularly around broadcasting quality, commercial rights, and player visibility.
Organizers said the 2025 edition is being carried by more than 100 television channels across five continents, with broadcasts reaching millions of viewers and drawing new sponsors and talent scouts as the tournament progresses.
More than 4,500 media professionals were accredited, a figure the committee said exceeded previous editions.
Operational planning accounted for weather risks through the installation of advanced drainage systems and hybrid pitches across all stadiums.
Turf used for the competition was cultivated near Tangier and engineered to withstand heavy rainfall, a measure credited with maintaining pitch quality and match continuity throughout the tournament.
Tournament tests Africa’s organizational capacity
The organizing committee established a central communication cell linking government agencies, transport operators, security services, and the Confederation of African Football.
Engagements extended to African embassies and participating countries’ police services, which took part in matchday security operations and crowd management.
The committee said the scale and integration of planning reflected Morocco’s longer-term football development strategy, launched more than a decade ago with the creation of the Mohammed VI Academy and followed by sustained investment in clubs, facilities, and talent pathways.
They described the 2025 tournament as a continental showcase of organizational capacity and institutional coordination within Africa.
Reporting by Felix Tih, based on an interview with the Africa Cup of Nations organizing committee.
