AFCON

Terrorists plan to derail AFCON with bombs and bullets

Published

3 years ago

January 16, 2022

On the fourth day of the Africa Cup of Nations, broadcasting from Cameroon to 150 countries this month, the rebels acted on their threat.

A dozen men fired AK-47s into the air less than a quarter-mile from where the Malian soccer team was practising on Wednesday, spooking the players off the field and drawing security forces into a shoot-out that killed a taxi driver and his passenger.

Elsewhere that morning in the southwestern city of Buea, someone tossed a home-made bomb from a cab window, wounding three police officers. A bus of Gambian footballers, startled by the chaos, raced back to their hotel.

Separatist groups that pledged to derail AFCON — Africa’s biggest soccer competition — briefly succeeded. Their stated goal: Remind the world of their grievances with the Cameroonian government.

Hours after the casings cooled, Mali went on to defeat Tunisia 1-0 and attention faded from the five-year conflict often called “neglected” or “forgotten” — even as the rebels vowed more attacks.

“We will continue to carry out anti-AFCON operations,” a separatist spokesman, Capo Daniel, said in a YouTube video Thursday, taking credit for the bullets and explosives. “We will uphold our dignity.”

At least 4,000 people have died since fighting erupted between the separatists and government forces in 2017. Nearly a million have lost their homes.

A billion viewers are expected to watch the AFCON matches, which run through February. Hoping to harness that spotlight, human rights groups are calling for a soccer cease-fire. “Such a truce could be the first step in rebuilding trust and moving toward talks between the authorities and separatist leaders after years of bloodshed,” the International Crisis Group wrote.

Neither side has attempted to make contact, as far as researchers know.

Twenty-four teams are competing in the biennial tournament at six stadiums across Cameroon, including venues in Buea and Limbe, cities in the Anglophone region, where rebels are pushing to create their own country called Ambazonia.

Thousands of fans have flocked in for the games, a flood of jerseys and flags. Many who live in Buea, though — where Mali, Tunisia, Gambia and Mauritania are training — view the rebels’ declarations as warnings.

“You don’t see the football spirit. People who live here — who cannot just leave — are afraid to be associated with the Cup,” said Arrey Elvis Ntui, the Cameroon expert for the International Crisis Group. “We love football, but we prefer to remain alive.”

Days before the shots were fired in Buea, gunmen had ransacked a gas station that displayed AFCON posters and detonated an improvised explosive device in Limbe. (No one was hurt.) The tournament’s mascot, Mola the Lion, went viral for wearing a bulletproof vest.

Daniel, the separatist spokesman, said in a statement, “Do not put football fans’ lives at risk thinking Africa’s most corrupt regime will guarantee security.”

Ntui, who grew up near Buea, had planned to attend the Mali-Tunisia game — discreetly, no jersey — but decided to stay home after the Wednesday clashes.

“The roads were too dangerous,” he said.

Cameroon’s conflict can be traced to the end of French and British colonial rule, which split the nation into a French-speaking majority (80 percent) and English-speaking minority.

The nation’s president of 40 years, Paul Biya, speaks only French in public.

Anglophone activists have long said they have felt shut out of opportunity or flat-out persecuted. Protest movements, met with violent government responses, morphed into armed groups.

Both the rebels and government forces have been accused of extrajudicial killings and sexual assault, among other atrocities.

As the conflict deepens, more Cameroonians are drawn to the separatist cause, analysts say, feeding the cycle of bloodshed.

Exacerbating the mayhem is the Boko Haram insurgency on Cameroon’s northern border, where Islamist militants regularly attack villages with automatic weapons and suicide blasts.

Cameroon was supposed to host AFCON in 2019, but regional soccer authorities determined the country wasn’t ready, citing the unrest and a lack of infrastructure, so Egypt stepped in.

Biya’s government rushed to finish the stadiums — drawing criticism that they should have been more focused on ending the fighting — and, after a year of pandemic delays, AFCON kicked off Jan. 9 in the capital, Yaoundé, with security forces numbering in the thousands standing guard.

Some European clubs, raising concerns about the violence and the coronavirus, tried to restrict African players from travelling to Cameroon, igniting controversy around risks the athletes had already faced in omicron-ravaged Europe.

Tensions around the tournament have not been this high since 2010, when separatists in Angola ambushed a bus of Togolese players, killing three.

The Senegalese Football Federation blasted one English soccer club, Watford, for “disrespectful, pernicious and discriminatory behavior” after the team withheld one of its stars, Ismaila Sarr. (Watford said Sarr was benched because of injuries before allowing him to travel to Cameroon on Jan. 4.)

Cameroon has imposed strict health rules to curb coronavirus transmission, said Yap Boum, a Cameroonian epidemiologist who helped steer the AFCON launch: Everyone must be tested and vaccinated before entering a stadium.

That’s a hefty order in a nation where less than 4 percent of people have been fully vaccinated, he said, so spectators have the option of getting jabbed on their way in.

Health organizers have also prepared for worst-case scenarios.

“If there is any high number of people injured because of football — or because of the separatists — we have a plan with all the hospitals,” Boum said, “to handle a large number of trauma injuries at the same time.”

On opening day in Yaoundé, video captured fans in Cameroon’s green, red and yellow cheering and clapping. Biya and the first lady waved from the sunroof of a black SUV driving laps on the stadium’s track.

Cameroon came back from behind to beat Burkina Faso 2-1.

“The energy was amazing,” said one fan in the stands, Diane Audrey Ngako. “I felt so proud. Thousands and thousands of Cameroonians singing our national anthem.”

The 30-year-old chief executive of a creative agency missed feeling patriotic. She resented the government for letting the Anglophone crisis fester. She wished there didn’t have to be soldiers on every corner.

“Football, this is something that connects us all,” Ngako said.

“This is a moment for the government to recognize what the Anglophone people want. To understand how they felt persecuted in our country. To create a link with all Cameroonians.”

-Washington Post

AFCON

Royal Air Maroc named official partner for AFCON 2025, WAFCON 2024

Published

7 days ago

April 19, 2025

Kunle Solaja

The African Football Confederation (CAF) and Royal Air Maroc (RAM) have sealed a historic strategic partnership that grants Morocco’s national airline the status of “Official Global Partner” for upcoming major African football competitions.

The agreement was signed Saturday morning in Casablanca, in the presence of Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) President Fouzi Lekjaâ.

This partnership encompasses several prestigious tournaments, including the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco (AFCON) 2025 (December 21, 2025 – January 18, 2026) and CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations Morocco (WAFCON) 2024 (July 5-26, 2025).

The agreement also covers CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations 2025, CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations 2025, CAF Champions League 2024/2025 Finals, CAF Confederation Cup 2024/2025 Finals, and the CAF Women’s Champions League 2025.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe voiced enthusiasm about the collaboration.

“We are excited about the partnership between CAF and Royal Air Maroc, a world-class airline that will provide comfort and fly NationalTeams participating in the CAF competitions,” he said.

“We are confident that the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 will be the most successful AFCON in the history of this competition.”

The agreement strengthens RAM’s footprint across Africa and globally, solidifying its role as a strategic gateway between Africa and the rest of the world. It also aligns with Morocco’s emergence as an international sports hub, with the country preparing to host AFCON 2025 and co-host the FIFA World Cup 2030.

RAM’s Chairman and CEO Hamid Addou stated: “This historic partnership with CAF aligns fully with our strategic vision as an airline deeply rooted in Africa and committed to its development.”

“Royal Air Maroc doesn’t just connect destinations; it builds bridges between cultures and passions. By supporting the continent’s biggest football competitions, we reaffirm our role as a facilitator of human and sporting exchanges,” he continued.

500,000 supporters expected

Beyond its partnership role, RAM will implement an exceptional operational system to meet increased demand during CAF competitions. The airline plans to welcome over 500,000 supporters for AFCON 2025.

“We believe we will surpass this figure by far,” revealed Addou. “We will be ready to accommodate these supporters across Royal Air Maroc’s entire network.”

The airline intends to double seat capacity from qualified countries already served by RAM, such as Dakar, Abidjan, Cairo, Tunis, Bamako, Lagos, and Douala.

RAM will also intensify flight frequencies from European cities with large African communities, including Paris, Brussels, Milan, London, Marseille, Lyon, Madrid, and Barcelona.

Additionally, the airline will establish a dedicated program for domestic air transport of national teams, shuttling them between their base camps and host cities.

This positioning establishes RAM as the primary connector between Africa and Europe through its Casablanca hub. FRMF President Fouzi Lekjaâ noted that the contract “reinforces Royal Air Maroc’s first-rate leadership role in Africa.”

“Royal Air Maroc is no stranger to football,” Lekjaâ added. “It has always supported generations of our athletes and footballers here in Morocco.”

“With this expertise and experience, they will contribute significantly to making AFCON 2025 Morocco exceptional, a historic turning point in African football, cultural coexistence and African cultural exchange,” he concluded.

Addou stressed RAM’s commitment to African unity: “We are all extremely proud to be African, and in every corner of this vast and magnificent continent, we share the same ambition—to actively contribute to Africa’s development and influence.”

The RAM CEO concluded by inviting everyone to upcoming CAF calendar events: “We’ll see you very soon for the great moments ahead in the CAF calendar, particularly the Women’s AFCON starting in July and, of course, the men’s AFCON, which kicks off on December 25.”

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AFCON

Morocco speeds up stadium upgrades ahead of AFCON 2025

Published

1 week ago

April 18, 2025

Kunle Solaja

The presidents of the regional councils concerned by the hosting of the matches of the Africa Cup of Nations (Morocco-2025) unanimously affirmed that the implementation of infrastructure projects in anticipation of this continental event “is progressing at a sustained pace”, declaring themselves “fully mobilized” to crown with success the major sporting events scheduled in the Kingdom.

They specified, in statements to the press in Rabat following a meeting at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior devoted to the assessment of the progress of the construction and rehabilitation works of the stadiums, that major sports infrastructure projects are underway in the six host cities: Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, Fez, Marrakech and Agadir.

The President of the Casablanca-Settat Regional Council, Abdellatif Maâzouz, announced that the projects planned for upcoming international sporting events, in particular the 2025 African Cup of Nations and the 2030 World Cup, “are proceeding under good conditions.”

The projects related to the organisation of the AFCON will be ready by next July at the latest, he assured, specifying that there is a clear vision regarding the preparations underway for the AFCON and the 2030 World Cup, both in terms of equipment and organisational arrangements related to human resources and animation.

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AFCON

‘Land of Football’ is ‘Kingdom of Light’ as Moroccan Tourism Office and Football Federation Strike Accord

Published

2 weeks ago

April 14, 2025

Kunle Solaja

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Morocco’s football federation and tourism office have signed a groundbreaking agreement to establish the country as a major football and tourism destination leading to the milestone 2030 World Cup when the global football tournament clocks a century.

The Moroccan football body and the Tourism Office are building on the national team’s recent international success.

Though with just one success in the Africa Cup of Nations, Moroccan football soars higher than the rest in Africa and the Arab world at the World Cup.

Apart from being the only African and Arab country to have reached the World Cup semi-final stage, Morocco in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico became the first African team not to be defeated in a World Cup match when they forced Bulgaria to a 1-1 draw on 11 June.

Again, in Mexico, this time at the 1986 World Cup, Morocco became the first African team to top a group and cross the group stage.

They were just two minutes away from a major upset of West Germany in the round of 16 before Lothar Matthäus’ back-breaking goal.

The success of the football team and the tourism potential of Morocco have found a harmonious chord.

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) and the National Moroccan Tourism Office (ONMT) will work together under the banner “Morocco, Land of Football,” placing the sport at the heart of the country’s tourism strategy.

“More than an institutional partnership, this convention is a shared vision: that of a Morocco that shines through football and makes it a lever for promotion, pride and tourist attractiveness,” ONMT said in a statement released after the signing.

The timing of this collaboration is strategic, coming ahead of two major sporting events: the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal.

The initiative builds on widespread public enthusiasm following the Atlas Lions’ historic World Cup performance in 2022.

Under the agreement, both organizations will implement an integrated communication strategy combining visibility campaigns, influence marketing, and joint promotional activities.

The initiative will mobilize iconic figures from Moroccan football to bring this vision to life, to showcase the country’s world-class sporting facilities, rich cultural heritage, and diverse tourist attractions.

ONMT has launched a major offensive at making Morocco, the ultimate tourism and business destination as the clock ticks down to the 35th Africa Cup of Nations holding in December.

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