AFCON '25: Viva Maghreb! — Terrace Edition

Words: Julián R.

Images: Julián R

What comes to your mind when you think of the Africa Cup of Nations?

Although football is getting globalized and familiar themes emerge wherever you go, football in Africa still keeps its own flavour.

And this is what I was looking for when I travelled to Morocco for the cup that decides the champion of the African continent.

Morocco has either built or refurbished the nine stadiums where this Afcon is taking place and is also getting ready for hosting the World Cup in 2030.

Talking to locals, there was also a bit of criticism, with Rabat having four stadiums and other cities with football history, like Kenitra, having none.

©Julián R/ Terrace Edition. Watching Morocco vs Comoros.

Another person also pointed the fact that too much money was being invested in football and little in more important things like education or hospitals.

In the cities I had the chance to visit (Casablanca, Rabat, Fez and Tanger) you could feel what this tournament means to the Moroccan people.

The cities and medinas were nicely decorated, the trams, trains and train stations painted with football images, the markets filled with flags and shirts, roundabouts displaying flags of the participant teams, etc.

All the bars were showing the games on big screens and there were also fan zones set up at the host cities.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t help, being very rainy throughout our visit, but that didn’t spoil the good mood of the fans.

©Julián R/ Terrace Edition. Flags in Fez.

From the games I watched, the nations from Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) had the most fans at the stadiums, but the country that impressed me the most was Senegal.

They had three different group of fans scattered throughout the stadium. One of them wore green, yellow and red shirts, building a big senegalese flag. And the trio of groups didn’t stop beating the drums and playing instruments during the 90 minutes, which created a fantastic atmosphere.

DR Congo also had a big fanbase support and Nigeria had a music band that didn’t stop playing during the game.

A negative remark was the fact that despite several games being sold out, various seats remained empty. The scalpers couldn’t make the business they had hoped.

But what I take from this tournament was the helpfulness and friendliness of the Moroccan people, showing their legendary arab hospitality.

Viva Maghreb!