Morocco was chosen to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals instead of Guinea, which had lost its right to host the competition the previous year. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda’s joint bid for the 2027 tournament won the hosting rights.
Algeria, Zambia, and a combined proposal from Benin and Nigeria withdrew before the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee invited Cairo on Wednesday, leaving Morocco as the winner by default.
The decision will help the North African nation’s chances of hosting the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Spain, but the combined East African bid’s triumph for 2027 came as a surprise.
As a result of their victory against Botswana, Egypt, and Senegal in a vote, the region will host the finals for the first time since 1976. The other applicant, Algeria, withdrew on Tuesday.
Due to inadequate planning, Kenya was earlier given the hosting honors in 1996 but was later stripped of them. A lengthy FIFA suspension imposed on the nation for meddling by the government in the operation of its football association was just recently removed.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe stated that the competition “must be distributed throughout the regions and contribute to the development of football.”
Morocco will only host the most prestigious sporting event in Africa once more, in the finals in 2025, over 40 years after the first time, in 1988.
HORRIFICALLY CONDEMNED
The 2015 Cup of Nations finals were scheduled in Morocco, but they were canceled due to worries about the Ebola virus spreading over West Africa. At the time, CAF vehemently disapproved of the choice, giving the nation a two-year suspension from participating in African competitions.
But Morocco has subsequently started a charm assault in the diplomatic sphere across the continent, forging connections through soccer. They have hosted several tournaments at the women’s and age group levels and let numerous African nations uize Moroccan stadiums after being barred from holding international matches due to subpar field or stadium standards.
When Morocco previously hosted the Cup of Nations, only eight teams were competing, and Casablanca and Rabat served as the only two stadiums.
Six stadiums in Agadir, Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech, Rabat, and Tanger have been suggested for use in 2025.
The previous ten years have seen a rocky history of Cup of Nations hosting, beginning with South Africa’s replacement of war-torn Libya in 2013.
The right to host the 2023 finals, along with Cameroon (2019) and Ivory Coast (2021), was granted to Guinea in 2014.
Egypt took over when Cameroon was ruled unprepared for the 2019 finals. After the COVID-19 epidemic caused a one-year delay, Cameroon hosted the 2021 edition.
The 2023 event was originally scheduled to take place in June in Ivory Coast, but it has been moved up by six months due to worries about West Africa’s rainy season.
The next Cup of Nations finals will occur from January 13 to February 11.
