Assahafa.com
Morocco has become the “driving force” behind African football, French news channel France 24 reported on Monday.
“With modern infrastructure, renowned training programs and successful clubs, Morocco has established itself as a key player in African soccer and has made its mark on the world stage in recent years,” the French media outlet said in an article published on its website.
“This rise in power goes far beyond the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, with the organization of the 2030 World Cup on the horizon,” the same source added.
On December 14, 2022, Morocco became the first African nation in history to reach the World Cup semi-finals, the channel recalls, noting that the Moroccan team, currently 11th in the FIFA rankings, is making its mark on the world stage and at the same time establishing itself as “a key player in African football.”
With the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on the horizon and, in the longer term, the Kingdom’s organization of the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, “Morocco’s rise to prominence is the result of investments and a development plan that has been in place for at least a decade,” observes the same source.
In this regard, the French media highlighted the high-quality sports infrastructure, initiated under the impetus of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, emphasizing the Mohammed VI Football Academy, inaugurated in 2010, with an investment of more than MAD 140 million.
“This large-scale facility (18 hectares) has enabled several Moroccan footballers to flourish at the highest level, such as Nayef Aguerd (OM), Azzedine Ounahi (Girona) and Youssef En-Nesyri (Fenerbahçe),” the article maintains.
The French channel also highlighted the Kingdom’s investments in training technical staff to take the sport to the next level.
“Morocco has a real national strategy,” says Jean-Baptiste Guégan, a sports geopolitologist quoted by the outlet. “It has chosen to use sport as a lever for development. On a continental scale, this is something we have never seen before,“ said the Sciences Po Paris professor, who teaches a course on ”The History and Geopolitics of African Sport.”
These investments have greatly contributed to Morocco’s continental and global influence in recent years, writes the French media outlet, noting that the Kingdom has indeed established itself as “a football powerhouse in Africa,” thanks in particular to the success of clubs such as Raja Casablanca, winner of the CAF Confederation Cup in 2021, and Wydad Casablanca, which won the African Champions League in 2022 and participated in the Club World Cup in the United States this summer.
Source: map
