Africa Cup of Nations already unprecedented success

If a reminder was needed that Morocco is very, very excited about the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations — and there really wasn’t — it was provided by a single headline Wednesday morning on the Foot-Africa website: “Achraf Hakimi touches the ball again ahead of AFCON 2025.”

The accompanying article merely elaborated on how Hakimi, the Moroccan captain, had touched the ball, why it was noteworthy that he’d touched the ball, and whether he’d be touching the ball again Sunday when Morocco faces Comoros (1:00 p.m., beIN Sports) in the Cup of Nations it will host between Dec. 21 and Jan. 18.

Africa’s pre-eminent football event, its Euro or Copa equivalent, is always a big deal, which goes without saying. But an AFCON in Morocco? That’s another thing, and another level, entirely.

Massive billboards in the six host cities have been counting down to kickoff for several weeks. The 2025 Africa Sports Expo, which addresses the economics, infrastructure, technology and governance of sports on the continent, started Thursday in Casablanca to coincide with the tournament. Automaker Suzuki has unveiled two special edition, AFCON-themed cars.

On Tuesday, Véron Mosengo-Omba, the Secretary General of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), remarked that this Cup of Nations will be “the best ever organized” and praised Morocco’s “world-class infrastructure.”

The country’s National Railway Office has revamped its service schedule and increased capacity in anticipation of travelling supporters. At the same time, it has lowered — yes, lowered — fares. In Casablanca, telecommunications operator inwi has set up a system of fan zones that, in addition to showing matches for free, will offer complimentary access to its 5G network.

There’s more. Visitors entering or exiting Morocco through one of its major airports will be able to catch the action in special viewing areas as part of a “Welcome Football, Welcome Fans” initiative.

Even beyond Africa, response to the event has been unprecedented.

A record number of Europe-based outlets have secured television or streaming rights, and for the first time the entire Cup of Nations will be broadcast free-to-air in the United Kingdom. Viewers in Canada and the United States will be able to watch every match on beIN Sports (included with FuboTV). More than 3,800 media credentials have been issued.

Morocco’s preparations and the speed at which organizers have got the country AFCON-ready is all the more impressive when you consider that it’s happening almost last-minute.

Initially planned for last June and July, the four-week tournament was shunted to the end of the year when FIFA decided to hold its nonsensical Club World Cup during the international window. Adding insult to injury, the governance body then cut by a week the amount of time that players could spend with their national teams.

FIFA’s disregard of African football is nothing new, although it’s been turbocharged under the leadership of Gianni Infantino, who has cozied up with the U.S. president and aligned himself and his organization with an institutionally racist American administration.

Take, for example, the Cup of Nations’ “Welcome Football, Welcome Fans” programme and juxtapose it with the United States’ announcement this week that Senegal and Ivory Coast have been added to its list of travel-restricted countries.

Both have qualified for the upcoming World Cup the U.S. is set to co-host, and they raise to 14 the number of AFCON participants facing either restrictions or outright bans imposed by the Americans.

In other words, 58 per cent of the Cup of Nations field is unwelcome in the United States. And not a peep out of FIFA. It’s despicable, but for the next month it’s also a unifying status. As dark as the World Cup’s vibes already are, the energy in Morocco is overwhelmingly bright, hospitable and warm. That’s not a coincidence.

And it’s only going to get better.

Not only has Morocco prepared a magnificent Cup of Nations, but its national team is also ready to dazzle on the pitch. It announced itself, remember, as a semifinalist at the 2022 World Cup, although a year later its AFCON ended with a surprise loss to South Africa in the round of 16. At the 2021 competition, it fell to Egypt in the quarterfinals, and in 2019 it was stunned by Benin, again in the round of 16.

Morocco, for all its star power, has tended to choke in the big moments — a reputation the current team intends to erase starting Sunday.

These Atlas Lions are in their prime. Look up and down the roster and you’ll see Marseille’s Nayef Aguerd, Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui, Stuttgart’s Bilal El Khannouss, Girona’s Azzedine Ounahi and Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz.

And yes, Paris Saint-Germain’s Hakimi is ready to go as well.

The hosts will be pushed by Senegal, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa, but this competition will be a success no matter the winner.

In fact, it already is.

As a Moroccan showcase, a form of happy defiance and a celebration of African football, this Cup of Nations has come at the perfect time, in a welcome way, to the ideal place.

winnipegfreepress.com/jerradpeters