Preparation for the 2025 tournament has endured a period of turbulence recently, just two months before the action kicks off in Morocco. Initial headaches for the organizers began on September 27, when political protestations began in the host nation, as thousands remonstrated the amount of investment being spent by the national government on hosting the Africa Cup of Nations and wider investment in soccer.
The unrest over the investment came against perceived better areas of national investment in things such as healthcare, education and transport. Moroccan investment in soccer has intensified in recent years, after the nation was also awarded co-hosting rights to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, alongside Spain and Portugal.
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Part of its World Cup bid includes the 5 billion MAD ($554 million) investment in a new 115,000 capacity seater stadium which could be named the host venue of the World Cup final. The tournament then also hit issues related to its ticketing, only officially releasing them on October 14, after two failed initial attempts to put them on the market.
The country’s efforts and investment in the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations does also underpin its preparations for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The Moroccan government is committed to MAD 150 billion ($16.6 billion) in infrastructure projects across multiple sectors, which includes annual state funding of MAD 1.6 billion ($177.3 million) every year until 2030 according to its Minister delegate for the budget, Fouzi Lekjaa. Spending huge sums on hosting major soccer events is nothing new, with the Ivory Coast linked to over $1 billion tournament spend at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2023.
This type of investment is seen as a long-term play, but the returns are rarely financially positive, at least directly, because of the expenditure required. In 2019, Egypt generated $83 million in revenue from hosting the tournament; whilst Cameroon generated a similar figure of $79.7 million in 2021 – a significant amount off the money linked to expenditure.
The continental body and tournament organizers, the Confederation African Football (CAF) also show only limited forecast returns. CAF expects its total revenue from the 2025-26 season to reach $312.85 million (across all its competitions), marking a significant uplift of 88% on its finances from the 2023-24 AFCON.
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By GlobalDataCAF figures include a 21% uplift on its AFCON media rights value from the 2023-24 report and total expenses of $284.4 million.
After finally launching its ticketing sales, the tournament revealed 137,250 tickets out of (the available) 400,000 had been sold within its first 24 hours, showing decent demand. Ticket prices at the tournament range between 100 MAD ($11) and 900 MAD ($98), meaning it is much more affordable than the 2026 FIFA World Cup as have been recently released.
By comparison, the World Cup’s cheapest tickets are $60 (and scarcely available) – a price which is more expensive than all but three ticket categories at this year’s AFCON (category one tickets from the quarter final stage onwards). At the highest category level of pricing, AFCON 2025 tickets are priced at 900 MAD ($98) compared to $6,000 (not including hospitality tickets) at next year’s World Cup.
Across the nine venues being used for AFCON 2025, the tournament has the potential to attract 2.39 million fans. Based against the stadium capacities in use at each stage of the tournament and an average price of category 2 against these matches, the tournament has the potential to generate 697.06 million MAD ($77.26 million).
Even before various revenue splits between properties, this estimated income is only worth 43.6% of the annual committed revenue of state funding from the Moroccan government. The country’s biggest returns on investment will be indirectly felt by Morocco, through tourism spending for which up to 1 million additional arrivals are expected during the tournament, at a boost of 12 billion MAD ($1.32 billion) in supplementary revenue.
The effects on tourism can be expected to continue long after the completion of the competition on January 18, 2026.
AFCON 2025 Ticket Prices
| Match | Category 1 | Category 2 | Category 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening Match | 500 MAD ($55) | 300 MAD ($33) | 150 MAD ($16) |
| Top Group Stage Matches | 400 MAD ($44) | 250 MAD ($27) | 100 MAD ($11) |
| Other Group Stage Matches | 300 MAD ($33) | 200 MAD ($22) | 100 MAD ($11) |
| Round of 16 & Third Place Playoff | 500 MAD ($55) | 300 MAD ($33) | 150 MAD ($16) |
| Quarter Finals | 600 MAD ($66) | 400 MAD ($44) | 200 MAD ($22) |
| Semi Finals | 800 MAD ($87) | 500 MAD ($55) | 300 MAD ($33) |
| Final | 900 MAD ($98) | 600 MAD ($66) | 400 MAD ($44) |
*Top Group Stage Matches – Morocco v Mali; Egypt v South Africa; Nigeria v Tunisia; Algeria v Burkina Faso; Ivory Coast v Cameroon; Senegal v DR Congo & Zambia v Morocco
Morocco’s large investment in soccer comes at a time of strong success for the national team, however. Although it has not won an AFCON title since its first in 1976, Morocco will start the 2025 tournament as the favourites.
This is built on strong momentum over the past few years which includes ranking as the best placed African team at the 2022 World Cup (fourth) and more recently winning the Under-20 FIFA World Cup this month.
Ultimately Morocco is investing in soccer at a time of positive momentum. Its successes with AFCON this year will build expectation for its involvement in the 2030 World Cup and help cement its position as a leading nation in the sport for years to come.
