Introduction: A Tournament Transformed, A Narrative Lost
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), hosted in the vibrant stadiums of Ivory Coast, has been a resounding success. It has delivered thrilling upsets, breathtaking goals, and a carnival atmosphere that has captivated football fans across the globe. The tournament’s slick production, increased prize money, and widespread international media coverage are a testament to a dramatic transformation. Once a beloved but often regionally-focused competition, AFCON is now a polished, global spectacle. And for that, a significant amount of credit must go to the Kingdom of Morocco.
Through years of strategic investment, political maneuvering, and a clear vision for the future of African football, Morocco has been the primary architect of this new, elevated AFCON. Yet, as the Atlas Lions made a shock early exit from the tournament they did so much to build, a powerful and uncomfortable irony emerged. In their quest to lift African football onto the world stage, they may have made a critical strategic error: they succeeded too well. By creating a powerful, global platform, Morocco inadvertently handed a megaphone to its political adversaries and opened the door to a level of international scrutiny that has turned the beautiful game into a complex geopolitical battleground. The very stage Morocco built to project its own power and prestige is now being used to highlight the very issues it would prefer to keep in the shadows.
The Moroccan Masterplan: A Calculated Bid for Continental Dominance
Morocco’s rise as the preeminent force in African football administration was not an accident; it was the result of a deliberate, well-funded, and meticulously executed long-term strategy. The goal was twofold: to establish Morocco as the continent’s leading footballing nation on and off the pitch, and to leverage that influence to achieve broader diplomatic and national branding objectives.
Building the Foundations: Infrastructure and Investment
The cornerstone of Morocco’s strategy has been its unparalleled investment in football infrastructure. While other nations debated, Morocco built. The Mohammed VI Football Complex, a state-of-the-art facility near Rabat, stands as a gleaming symbol of this commitment. Spanning nearly 30 hectares, the complex rivals the best training centers in Europe, boasting multiple FIFA-standard pitches, a five-star hotel, and cutting-edge medical and performance analysis centers. This facility is not just for Moroccan national teams; it has become a go-to destination for other African federations, who are invited to use the facilities, often at a reduced cost. This creates goodwill and, crucially, influence.
Beyond this flagship project, Morocco has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into renovating and building stadiums across the country. This domestic investment has a clear external-facing purpose: to demonstrate to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and FIFA that Morocco is a reliable and capable host for major tournaments, a stark contrast to the organizational challenges that have occasionally plagued past events in other nations. When CAF has needed a last-minute host, Morocco has consistently raised its hand, stepping in to host the African Nations Championship (CHAN) and the Women’s AFCON, further cementing its reputation as the continent’s problem-solver.
The Fouzi Lekjaa Effect: A New Power Broker in African Football
At the heart of this strategic push is Fouzi Lekjaa, the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) and a powerful minister in the Moroccan government. Lekjaa is not merely a football administrator; he is a shrewd political operator who understands the intricate dance between sport and statecraft. Since taking the helm of the FRMF in 2014, he has methodically ascended the ranks of football governance, becoming a key figure in both CAF’s Executive Committee and the influential FIFA Council.
Lekjaa’s influence is rooted in his ability to deliver tangible results. He has been instrumental in securing lucrative new sponsorship deals for CAF, professionalizing its operations, and significantly increasing the prize money for AFCON—the winner of the 2023 tournament will receive $7 million, a 40% increase from the previous edition. This financial injection has won him immense support among other African federations, who see Morocco’s leadership as beneficial to their own development. Lekjaa has positioned Morocco not as a rival, but as a benefactor to the rest of the continent, a “big brother” willing to invest in the collective good, all while subtly consolidating its own power.
The 2030 World Cup: The Ultimate End Game
Morocco’s tireless work to elevate AFCON and its influence within CAF cannot be separated from its ultimate ambition: co-hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal. Every successful tournament hosted, every new facility built, and every diplomatic victory within CAF is a building block for this grand project. By transforming AFCON into a globally respected event, Morocco demonstrates its organizational capacity to a worldwide audience, pre-empting any doubts about an African nation’s ability to stage the world’s biggest sporting event. The success of AFCON is, in essence, a feature-length advertisement for the 2030 World Cup bid. It is the proof of concept that underpins their entire sporting and diplomatic strategy.
The Unintended Consequence: When the Pitch Becomes a Political Arena
The very success of the Moroccan strategy has created its primary vulnerability. A bigger stage, more cameras, and a larger global audience mean more scrutiny. The bright lights that were meant to showcase Morocco’s modernity and organizational prowess are now also illuminating the nation’s most sensitive and contentious political issue: the conflict over Western Sahara.
The Global Spotlight Swings to Western Sahara
The Western Sahara is a sparsely populated territory on the northwest coast of Africa, disputed for decades between Morocco, which claims sovereignty over it, and the Polisario Front, an independence movement backed by Morocco’s regional rival, Algeria. For Morocco, the issue is a matter of “territorial integrity” and is non-negotiable. For the Polisario Front and Algeria, it is a case of decolonization and self-determination.
For years, this complex conflict remained largely a regional affair, understood by diplomats and specialists but rarely breaking into mainstream international consciousness. However, as Morocco has stepped into the global sporting spotlight, it has dragged the Western Sahara issue with it. The football stadium, once a sanctuary from politics, has become one of its most visible frontiers.
The CHAN Controversy: A Diplomatic Own Goal
The most glaring example of this new reality came in the run-up to the 2022 African Nations Championship (CHAN), hosted by Algeria. The Moroccan team, the defending champions, were forced to withdraw from the tournament after Algeria refused to grant their flight direct passage from Rabat. The flight carrier, Royal Air Maroc, is Morocco’s official airline and often carries banners and maps that include the disputed Western Sahara as part of Morocco. Algeria, which closed its airspace to Moroccan aircraft in 2021 amid escalating tensions, would not make an exception.
The standoff was a diplomatic fiasco that played out in the global media. What should have been a celebration of African football became a stark illustration of the deep political rift between the two North African powerhouses. Morocco’s attempt to use the tournament to assert its normalcy and influence backfired, instead highlighting its isolation and the intractability of its conflict with Algeria on a continental stage.
Flags, Chants, and Geopolitical Fault Lines
The politicization has not been limited to diplomatic spats. Inside the stadiums of the current AFCON, political symbolism is ever-present. Fans have been seen with flags and banners related to the Western Sahara, and political chants have been heard from the stands. Each incident, no matter how small, is now captured by international media and amplified on social media, forcing CAF into the uncomfortable position of having to police political expression.
This dynamic has created a new front in the Morocco-Algeria rivalry. Pro-Polisario activists see the tournament as a golden opportunity to bring their cause to an international audience, while Moroccan officials are forced into a reactive posture, protesting what they see as the politicization of sport. The tournament Morocco worked so hard to elevate has become a tinderbox of regional tensions.
A Platform for All Voices: The Pandora’s Box of Activism
Perhaps the most significant miscalculation in Morocco’s strategy was the assumption that it could control the narrative on the global stage it helped create. The increased visibility of AFCON has not just provided a platform for Morocco’s rivals, but for a wide range of political and social causes across the continent, most notably demonstrated by the powerful protest of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national team.
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Silent, Powerful Protest
Before their semi-final match, as the national anthems played, the players of the DR Congo team stood in a line, covering their mouths with one hand while pointing two fingers to their temples with the other. The gesture was a silent, yet deeply resonant protest. The hand over the mouth signified the world’s silence, while the fingers to the head represented the gun-point violence and mass killings plaguing the eastern region of their country, a conflict that has claimed millions of lives but receives scant international attention.
This powerful moment was broadcast live to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world. It transcended football, turning a sporting event into a poignant plea for humanitarian attention. It was a stark reminder that once a platform is built, its creator cannot dictate who gets to use it or what message they will deliver. The DR Congo team effectively hijacked the narrative for a cause far removed from Moroccan geopolitics, demonstrating the new power of the AFCON stage.
A New Era of Athlete Activism in African Football?
The DR Congo protest may signal a turning point for athlete activism in African football. While players in European leagues and American sports have become increasingly vocal on social and political issues, this has been less common in the African international football scene. The globalized AFCON, with its massive media footprint, provides an unprecedented opportunity for players to follow the lead of global icons like LeBron James or Marcus Rashford and use their visibility to champion causes they care about.
This presents a major challenge for CAF and FIFA, organizations that have traditionally sought to keep politics out of football. The line between a personal expression of conscience and a prohibited political statement is increasingly blurry. As more players and teams realize the power they wield on this new global stage, expect more such protests, forcing administrators to navigate a minefield of sensitive issues.
The Unblinking Eye of the Global Media
Underpinning all of this is the transformed media landscape. In the past, AFCON was covered primarily by African and some specialized European broadcasters. Today, major global players like Sky Sports in the UK, beIN Sports across the Middle East and North America, and numerous other international networks provide wall-to-wall coverage. This means that a protest gesture in Abidjan or a political flag in the crowd is no longer a local story. It is instantly beamed into millions of homes worldwide, analyzed by pundits, and disseminated across social media, ensuring its impact is magnified exponentially. Morocco’s push for global legitimacy brought the global media, and with them came an unblinking eye that sees and reports on everything—the good, the bad, and the politically inconvenient.
Analysis: A Strategic Miscalculation or an Inevitable Outcome?
Viewing Morocco’s situation as a simple “mistake” might be overly simplistic. It is more accurately described as a high-stakes gamble where the potential rewards were enormous, but the inherent risks were either underestimated or deemed acceptable. The entanglement of sport and politics is not a new phenomenon, and perhaps Morocco’s only error was believing it could be the sole beneficiary of this dynamic.
The High-Stakes Game of Soft Power
Morocco’s entire football strategy is a classic exercise in soft power—the use of cultural and economic influence to shape the preferences of others. By investing in African football, Morocco sought to project an image of a modern, competent, and generous leader on the continent. This, in turn, was meant to build diplomatic capital that could be used to advance its national interests, chief among them securing international recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The problem with soft power is that it relies on controlling the narrative. When that control is lost, the strategy can backfire spectacularly. Instead of being seen as a benevolent leader, Morocco now risks being perceived by some as a nation trying to use its wealth to silence dissent and impose its political will on a sporting competition. The very tool designed to enhance its reputation now threatens to tarnish it.
The Inescapable Marriage of Politics and Sport
History is replete with examples of major sporting events becoming political platforms. The 1936 Berlin Olympics, the Black Power salute in Mexico City in 1968, and the boycotts of the Moscow and Los Angeles Olympics are just a few prominent examples. More recently, the World Cups in Russia and Qatar were dominated by discussions of human rights and geopolitics. To believe that a globalized AFCON could remain an apolitical oasis was, in hindsight, naive. Politics is not an intruder in sport; it is an inherent part of any large-scale international gathering of nations. Morocco did not invite politics to AFCON; it simply set a bigger table where existing political tensions could be served to a larger audience.
Recalculating the Return on Investment
Has the investment been worth it for Morocco? The answer is complex. On one hand, Morocco’s influence within CAF and FIFA is undeniable. Its 2030 World Cup bid is in a very strong position. The country’s infrastructure is world-class, and its reputation for organizational excellence is secure. These are significant, long-term strategic victories.
On the other hand, the short-term political blowback has been significant. The Western Sahara issue is now more visible than ever on a popular cultural stage, and Morocco has been drawn into public spats that detract from its carefully curated image. The “return” on its investment is no longer just measured in sponsorship deals and voting blocs, but also in managing negative headlines and diplomatic fallout. The final balance sheet on this grand strategy has yet to be written.
Conclusion: The Complex Legacy of Morocco’s AFCON Gambit
Morocco set out to elevate the Africa Cup of Nations from obscurity into the global spotlight, and in this, it has succeeded beyond all expectations. The tournament is now more competitive, more professional, and more watched than ever before. This is a laudable achievement that will benefit African football for years to come. However, this success has come at a price. The global stage Morocco so painstakingly constructed is now a forum for all of Africa’s voices, complexities, and conflicts—not just the ones that align with Rabat’s agenda.
To call this a “mistake” is to frame it as a failure. It is more accurate to see it as an unavoidable consequence of ambition. In its drive for influence, Morocco unleashed a powerful force it can no longer fully control. It has irrevocably changed AFCON, transforming it into a mirror that reflects not just the continent’s passion for football, but also its deepest political and social struggles. Morocco may have lost control of the narrative, but its actions have ensured that the world can no longer look away.
