CAF rejects Algeria’s bad loser act

The African Football Confederation (CAF) rejected the bad loser act of Algeria to withdraw its bid on the eve of a vote on the 2025 host of the African Cup of Nations won by Morocco.

CAF refused Algeria’s childish act of withdrawing one day ahead of the vote as the Algerian decision seemed to be dictated by a political regime reaping fiascos at the diplomatic and sports arenas.

The vote gave a landslide victory to Morocco with zero votes going to rival bids of Algeria and Nigeria-Benin.

Algeria’s withdrawal “means they avoid the diplomatic embarrassment of potentially losing out to neighbor Morocco in the 2025 vote. Algeria and Morocco have a strained relationship, both at political and sporting level, with football often an arena for public points scoring,” wrote Reuters.

Algeria’s president Tebboune’s failure to host the African tournament adds to a series of blows at the international level, the most recent was BRICS group’s decision not to include Algeria in its recent expansion.

Most recent sports tournaments hosted by Algeria turned to a fiasco including the Mediterranean games in 2022. The International Committee of Mediterranean Games decried the political use of the sports event to polish a decaying regime.

While Morocco’s bid had most chances and its selection came to no surprise, the tournament would be a chance for the north African kingdom to showcase its stadiums and tourist infrastructure as it also hopes to foster its 2030 World Cup as part of a joint bid with Spain and Portugal.

Morocco, whose national team tops all other African peers in the FIFA ranking, last hosted the African tournament in 1988.

The north African squad led by coach Walid Regragui had a memorable run in Qatar World Cup making history as the first African team to reach the semi-finals.

Morocco has already launched works to expand some of its key stadiums in Rabat and Tangier and has been offering its pitches to teams from friendly African states lacking stadiums that meet FIFA standards.

Head of Morocco’s football federation Fouzi Lekjaa said Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, Fez, Marrakech and Agadir would host the tournament, adding that Morocco will spare no effort to ensure the African Cup of Nations takes place in best conditions.

Following the CAF Executive Committee meeting, head of the African football governing body Patrice Motsepe said at a news conference that the unanimous decision to entrust Morocco with the organization of the AFCON-2025 is a show of support for its efforts in its bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

Morocco’s bid (along with Spain and Portugal) to host the 2030 World Cup finals is a bid on behalf of the entire African continent, he said, adding that “a new World Cup in Africa will be the gauge of the great progress made by the continent in the field of football and its infrastructures.”

“We are looking forward to one of the best AFCONs in 2025 in Morocco, and we will also be very happy to see Africa host the World Cup again in 2030,” he said, expressing his optimism that Morocco’s bid would “represent the whole of Africa on the world stage.”

The CAF Executive Committee, meeting in Cairo on Wednesday, unanimously chose Morocco to host the 35th edition of the African Cup of Nations, to be held in 2025. It also entrusted the organization of the 2027 edition to Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, who submitted a joint bid.