AFCON 2025 has yet to really capture the imagination in Morocco – on and off the field – The Athletic

The Athletic has live coverage of Senegal vs. Sudan in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations knockout round.

From the edge of the Marrakech medina and the marvellously faded rooftop bar of the Grand Hotel Tazi, where the raffish furnishings have barely changed since the place was opened in the 1920s, the sound wafted through the cafes and restaurants that line the street leading to the city’s famously mad trading square, the Jemaa el-Fnaa.

I had broken away from the tournament temporarily while Morocco played Zambia in Rabat, around 300km (200 miles) away, on Monday but I knew the host nation of the 2024-25 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) had scored again because of clattering tables and a din in the middle distance.

There must have been a tiny delay in the coverage, because the celebrations that marked Morocco’s second goal of a 3-0 win arrived in stages. Eventually, they got to Cafe Roxe, rammed with men smoking cigarettes and drinking mint tea. Cue: pandemonium.

There is no alcohol, but such hazy settings provide an intoxicating atmosphere.

The men, and they are always men, stare upwards, fixing their eyes at a television high on a wall, sometimes pointing like they have seen an aeroplane in flight for the first time.

Even if you don’t speak Arabic, you know they have an opinion on more or less everything because there is a reaction to each kick of the ball and each decision of the head coach or referee.

If you sit for long enough, you lose yourself and remember that in countries where religions dominate the way of life, this is one of the ways the sport is absorbed and you are ultimately the visitor, the odd one out.

Fans watch the action at Hotel Tazi (Simon Hughes/The Athletic)

You’ll find out more if you suspend judgement and ask questions. Yet Moroccans seem more comfortable posing them.

They are a warm, helpful and curious people, but tend not to give too much away about their own thoughts, at least not right now, especially to a foreigner, and certainly not a random journalist who suddenly appears and is trying to capture what is really going on.

In October, protests across several Moroccan cities about a lack of spending on key public services when the country was pouring billions of dirham into stadium building became international news, but momentum was lost after three deaths.

At the moment, it feels like Morocco have to win AFCON next month, which would be their first triumph in it since 1976 and only their second overall, to justify literally everything.

There is ultimately less joy in success when it is expected and more relief. Hence, there is a nervous tension and when Morocco score, the country suddenly breathes again.

The previous edition of AFCON, in the Ivory Coast two years ago, was a party. Each time you stepped outside, the orange shirts of the hosts’ national team were everywhere. The whole event felt like Glastonbury, but Morocco is at a more serious point in its history. Compare this AFCON to the World Economic Forum.

Ivory Coast thought they could win in 2024 and eventually did, but there was always the chance they might not. For Morocco, this is business, and it feels like it can only have one ending.

Like in the Ivory Coast, many of the stadiums are not full to capacity during matches here, despite grand claims from the organisers about ticket sales before the tournament kicked off, but what happens inside the grounds is only a part of being the host nation anyway.

At that previous AFCON, I watched games from Treichville, an immigrant area in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s largest city, where nobody could afford a ticket to attend a game. Instead, communities hailing from Senegal, Guinea and Burkina Faso gathered in the district’s square in front of a big screen, chewing on grilled fish as they watched the action. At the end of the night, they decided who the real winners were with a dance-off, which felt like a 5am rave even though it was not past the bedtime of most children.

It was one of several official “fan zones” in Abidjan, and Morocco has those for this edition of AFCON, too. The one in Marrakech is in a place called Bab Jdid, halfway between the airport and Hotel Tazi. When Morocco play, it bursts and erupts, but it is not the same when other countries are competing.

The fan zones at this AFCON are busy – when Morocco play (Simon Hughes/The Athletic)

Before Ivory Coast’s third and final group game against Gabon on Wednesday, fans from those countries were invisible throughout the day, perhaps melting into the dense tourist crowds of a city that, in fairness, makes it difficult to distinguish anyone. Maybe they were in Bab Jdid, before making their way to the Grande Stade de Marrakech?

Yet as the sun went down and the glorious, snowcapped Atlas Mountains dominated southern views, a space that can apparently hold as many as 75,000 housed just a few hundred people quietly staring at three big screens transmitting Algeria’s 3-1 win against Equatorial Guinea.

The crowd was sparse at the fan zone for Algeria’s game against Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday (Simon Hughes/The Athletic)

It has to be stressed that covering this AFCON so far has been enjoyable, but it has been… different.

There are all sorts of possible reasons for this.

It is being held in the North African winter for a start, when it should have been played in the summer. Imagine a European Championship being held in Poland, for example, at this time of year. The seasons dictate colour, appetite and energy.

I have been told Morocco is a cold country with a warm sun, and for the past few days (following consistent rain in Tangier and Rabat) the clouds have dispersed. Yet on Tuesday, Madonna, of all people, revealed on Instagram that she was in Marrakech, and when she posted a bouquet of photographs, it was soundtracked with her song Frozen.

Maybe this will be remembered as the Big Coat AFCON.

Aside from approaching and leaving the Grande Stade, everything has gone to plan so far, even on the pitch, where there have been no shocks, or even surprises, so far.

Two years ago in the group stage, Nigeria beat the hosts, Mozambique drew with Egypt, Cape Verde defeated Ghana, who Mozambique then drew with, and Cape Verde took a point against the Egyptians. Mauritania also beat Algeria and Namibia overcame Tunisia. Oh, and Equatorial Guinea absolutely pumped Ivory Coast 4-0, almost eliminating them. That’s eight results nobody expected.

So far this time, every team have done as they are supposed to, giving a competition which is often difficult to predict an orderly, somewhat compliant feel.

The pitches are certainly better than they were in the Ivory Coast, the training facilities are there, and as Morocco promised, the hotels have all the comforts top-level footballers need to prepare properly.

Given that the best players from Africa tend to be employed by European clubs and so are familiar with matches in the cold, perhaps Morocco in a chilly December has offered an advantage to those who tend to have what they need anyway.

There are still more than two weeks to go before the January 18 final and much can change, but if this pattern of conformity continues, the beneficiaries will surely be Morocco.