AFCON 2025: Does Africa Really Want to Trust Itself?

Abstract

Aware of the strategic role of sport as a lever for development and international influence, Morocco has made it a central pillar of its soft power diplomacy. Hosting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations represented a major test, allowing the country to demonstrate the quality of its infrastructure, its organizational expertise, and its capacity to anticipate and manage crises. At the same time, AFCON 2025 offered a genuine opportunity for African countries to reflect on whether the continent as a whole is willing to trust itself in driving its own development and whether it is collectively prepared to manage its affairs. In this article, we will examine the concept of sports geopolitics, the instrumentalization of Moroccan sport as a tool of foreign policy, AFCON 2025 as an illustration of Morocco’s rise as a sporting power, geopolitical rivalries, and their impact on the international image of both Morocco and Africa.