by Ayele Addis Ambelu (Ph.D.); News, Africa, Africa Union, Sport, Morocco, FIFA
Morocco is one of the leading North African countries with the active potential to host international or
mega sports events. The country invested massively in hosting football, marathons, and tennis tournaments, which may have been because the King, his people, and the government were fans of sports. They have also invested in sports for tourism purposes. As all continues, investing in hosting sports events increases the opportunity to compete with other countries at the center of world sports. This strategy opens the country to a new market and new types of tourists influenced by participating in differekindspes of sports events.
Sports in Morocco refer to the sports played in the Kingdom of Morocco. As of 2007, Moroccan society participated in many sports, including handball, football, golf, tennis, basketball, and athletics. Hicham El Guerrouj, a retired middle distance runner for Morocco, won two gold medals for Morocco at the Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Association football has historically betop-ratedlar amongst persons of African descent and is Morocco’s most popular sport. Other popular sports include athletics, Futsal, basketball, boxing, golf, netball, swimming, surfing, and tennis.
Morocco has hosted many international events, such as the 1988 African Cup of Nations, the 2013 FIFA Club World Cuthe p, the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, the 2018 African Nations Championship, and the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup. Most of the events hosted are football related since it is the most popular sport in the country.
The Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports houses all the sporting federations of Morocco. The most popular sport is football, followed by cricket, basketball, rugby union, and hockey. The Botola Pro is the top league competition for football clubs in Morocco. Each year 16 teams compete for the championship. Champions and runner-ups participate in the African Champions League.
Mohammed VI Football Academy
The Complex, designed as an integrated structure dedicated to developing a high-level football practice, reflects the Monarch’s constant solicitude towards sports and youths and his desire to secure professional football players all the conditions for improving their performance so that they can represent their country in best possible conditions in international tournaments.
Sala al Jadida is located near Rabat and is now the official home of the Mohammed VI Football Academy. The king recently inaugurated this project, which will open its doors to education and football development in the country. The project has been running since 2007 with the assistance of Nasser Larguet, Project Manager, overseeing the project and tours Morocco in search of students who fit the academy’s requirements. The Mohammed VI Football Academy will not only be developing the sport and its future football stars but providing the education that will shape the minds of the younger generation.
The Mohammed VI Football Complex, extending over 30 ha, is intended to accommodate national teams during their preparation camps and foreign teams who wish to prepare in Morocco.
The opening of this sports facility to foreign teams will make it a tourism development tool.
The new Complex, one of the largest in the world, is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in line with FIFA standards.
It features four natural grass football fields; three artificial turf football fields; a covered football pitch; a hybrid football field; a re-training room that can host futsal matches; an outdoor Olympic-sized pool; two tennis courts, and a Beach Soccer field.
The Complex also includes a new-generation sports and performance medicine center that meets FIFA standards in the field and has physiotherapy, stress testing, dentistry, ophthalmology, trauma, psychology, podiatry, nutritional medicine, radiology, ultrasound, electrotherapy, bone densitometry, cryotherapy, in addition to an emergency mobile medical unit.
It can accommodate the national team A (66 rooms and four suites), the U23 and U17 teams with a 150-bed capacity and an 80-bed capacity, and goalkeepers (54 rooms).
The complex features dining and relaxation areas, a 221-seat auditorium that can host various events (conferences, film screenings…), and administrative buildings.
The Mohammed VI Football Complex of Football, whose refurbishment required 630 million dirhams, is part of the national program on upgrading football infrastructure. The program provides for improving players’ training through establishing training centers for local teams (RCA, FUS, MAT, WAC, RSB) and the construction of five federal training centers in Saïdia, Ifrane, Ksar Lakbir, Beni Mellal, and Agadir.
Under the program, which also provides for developing football practice, 138 artificial grass football pitches have been renovated, and 13 natural grass pitches have been set up.
