An exemplary tournament organizationally
AFCON 2025, initially planned mid-2025 then postponed to avoid overlap with FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, was held from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026. Morocco hosted 24 African national teams for a total of 52 matches across 6 stadiums in 6 host cities.
Historic final: Côte d'Ivoire surprises Senegal
The January 18, 2026 final, organized at Casablanca's Grand Hassan II Stadium before 75,000 spectators (record attendance for an AFCON final), saw Côte d'Ivoire win 2-1 over favorite Senegal. Goals from Sébastien Haller, Nicolas Pépé, and Sadio Mané for Senegal.
Economic impact: 3 billion MAD generated
The economic impact study published jointly by HCP and the Ministry of Tourism in May 2026 quantifies AFCON 2025's direct impact at approximately 3 billion MAD over the December 2025 - February 2026 period (3 months).
3 billion MAD impact breakdown
- Hospitality and catering: 1.2 billion MAD
- Transport (RAM, ONCF, car rental): 480 million MAD
- Stadium ticketing: 280 million MAD
- International TV rights: 420 million MAD redistributed to Morocco
- Local sponsorship (banks, telecoms): 320 million MAD
- Merchandising and stadium concessions: 180 million MAD
- Other (crafts, alternative accommodation): 120 million MAD
Successful rehearsal for World Cup 2030
Beyond the sporting and economic results, AFCON 2025 played a real-scale test role for the 2030 World Cup that Morocco will co-organize with Spain and Portugal. Several critical systems were tested in real conditions.
Article based on official public data + wafir.ma expert sources. All cited statistics are verifiable with the mentioned organizations.
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