As Morocco prepares to stage the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2025), an African police cooperation center was inaugurated in Salé city on Thursday. The first of its kind on the continent, the center will be steering, coordinating and exchanging information related to the security of major sporting events.
This center, as part of the ‘Stadia” project designed to ensure sporting events security, is the fruit of close cooperation among the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN), the Commandery of the Royal Gendarmerie, and the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), as well as cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL).
This new structure involves representatives from national security services and liaison officers from the security services of the 23 countries qualified for the AFCON 2025, in addition to mobile observer teams (Spotters) working in direct coordination with Moroccan authorities to assist supporters of their national teams in the stadiums and the host cities.
The center also brings together representatives from the CAF, the FIFA, as well as participants from Spain, Portugal, ahead of the 2030 World Cup.
Key missions include facilitating the real-time exchange of operational information, enhancing the assessment of risks related to supporters, coordinating preventive measures and interventions on the field, providing guidance and assistance to Moroccan law enforcement, and promoting a security culture rooted in sporting values and fair play.
This body also plays a central role in digital vigilance, by detecting potential cyber threats, especially those related to terrorism, extremism and data hacking, in coordination with the INTERPOL cybercrime unit, in order to ensure rapid and efficient intervention and safeguard the sporting installations of all of the facilities hosting fans.
The establishment of this center comes in application of the royal guidelines regarding the strengthening of South-South cooperation and the consolidation of joint security mechanisms with brotherly African countries.
