AFCON
EMMANUEL AMUNEKE SET TO GIVE TANZANIA FIRST AFCON QUALIFICATION IN 40 YEARS
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
The qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations comes to a close this week with 24 matches on the card. Already, 14 of the teams are already known while the remaining 10 slots will be filled by the end of the week.
Two of the matches on Sunday are crucial. They are the two Group L matches and both are crucial in the shaping of the 24-team format tournament in Egypt. Cape Verde takes on Lesotho while Tanzania host Uganda. Cape Verde Island will host Lesotho in Praïa in a must win encounter while Tanzania are in similar situation when they later in the day host Uganda.
The match in Dar Es Salaam holds great significance. Nigeria’s Emmanuel Amuneke may qualify Tanzania for the country’s first Africa Cup of Nations in 40 years since last qualifying for the 1980 edition in 1979.
Tanzania will be hoping to beat Uganda while expecting that Lesotho will not upset Cape Verde at home.
If the Tanzanian team beats the already qualified Uganda on Sunday in a Group L duel, it will be a major achievement as Taifa Stars of Tanzania will qualify.
Incidentally, it was in Nigeria in 1980 that Tanzania last played in the Africa Cup of Nation’s tournament. Now a Nigerian is set to get the country back into the tournament.
Already, Uganda has picked one of the two tickets of the group in the previous match day after a 1-0 defeat of Cape Verde.
The qualification was also a landmark for Uganda who also experienced a 38 year wait before qualifying two years ago. Before their qualification for the 2017 tournament, Uganda last qualified in 1978 when they beat Nigeria 2-1 in the semi-finals.
The Ugandans have now qualified for back-to-back tournaments for the first time since 1974 and 1976.
Tanzania football has been on the rise since Emmanuel Amuneke took charge in August last year and hopes to crown his efforts with a historic qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Another match that will be of interest is that of Libya hosting South Africa in Tunisia. Libya, forced to play home matches outside its territory owing to political instability may upstage initial Group E frontrunners, South Africa.
Should that happens, the Africa Cup of Nations enters a new phase as it will be the first in which all the five North African countries will be participating.
Already, Egypt, the hosts, qualified even before getting the hosting rights. Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are also through to the finals.
The Super Eagles’ match with Seychelles is a a dead rubber as the Nigerian team are through while the visitors are already eliminated and therefore merely fulfilling the fixtures.
The match between Cameroon and the Comoros will decide which team joins already-qualified Morocco from Group B as Malawi are unable to go through.
In Group G all the four teams have got a chance of qualifying with DR Congo hosting Liberia while Congo travel to Harare to face Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe lead the group with eight points, one ahead of Liberia while DR Congo and Congo have six and five points respectively.
Burundi, Comoros and Lesotho will be chasing history by grabbing their places in Africa’s flagship competition for the first time, following in the footsteps of Madagascar and Mauritania.
Group K is wide open as there are three sides are battling for the two slots. Guinea Bissau and Namibia have eight points each with Mozambique on seven points.
Mozambique will make a trip to Guinea Bissau while Namibia travels to Zambia to determine which teams will qualify. Only Zambia is eliminated.
With Mali taking Group C’s first ticket, a fierce battle will take place when Burundi welcomes Gabon with the hosts needing just a draw to qualify for the first time.
Burundi are second with nine points while their opponents are two points adrift in third place. Another tough assignment is in Group I where Angola (nine points) and Burkina Faso (seven points) will slug it out for last ticket. Palancas Negras travel to face Botswana while Burkina Faso host Mauritania who have already qualified.
Also in a similar position in Group D where Algeria have already secured their place which leaves Benin (seven points) battling Gambia and Togo, with five points each, for the other slot.
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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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
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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