Football’s Arab Cup is underway in Qatar, while Africa’s Cup of Nations will soon begin in Morocco. The tournaments are important showcases for both countries; Qatar is trying to navigate its way through the legacies of staging Fifa’s World Cup in 2022, while Morocco is looking ahead to 2030 when it will co-host the tournament with Spain and Portugal.
The ambitions and journeys of the two countries are similar, though there are significant differences between them.
When it won the right to stage the 2022 competition, Qatar was seen as a surprising prospective host with no history of staging such events and little infrastructure. Conversely, Morocco stages Afcon this year as an increasingly powerful football nation, having reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2022.
The two countries view football as a means through which to brand and position themselves in an increasingly fractious world. These events help to create interdependencies with external stakeholders such as investors, sponsors, media corporations and sport governing bodies, which gives us a reason to care about what happens.
Qatar’s gas and oil wealth meant it did not have to make difficult fiscal decisions, and the country’s investment in football was part of attempts to diversify its economy and build resilience. The government in Doha is now more concerned about utilising stadiums, roads and a metro network that reportedly cost US$240 billion to build.
Observers claimed that Qatar did not have a football culture and was seeking to create one artificially. Whatever the truth, the country set about constructing both stadia and civic infrastructure that is now among the best in the world.
There were challenges, notably involving scrutiny around the treatment of migrant workers constructing the infrastructure.
Morocco is trying to assert itself as a leading African nation, but also as a gateway
Ultimately, Qatar staged what many people have characterised as being the best ever World Cup. The tournament catapulted the country from the margins to one that is a trusted member of the international community.
That’s a high benchmark for Morocco, which will be looking to deploy all of its diplomatic armoury to project soft power and embellish its national brand during Afcon and the World Cup.
Morocco is trying to assert itself as a leading African nation, but also as a gateway. The government in Rabat wants Morocco to be a principal route into and out of Africa. Hence, its ambitions in tournament hosting tend to be more assertive than Qatar’s distinctly consensual approach.
The North African nation has a long established and vibrant football culture that has always engaged large numbers of fans.
Morocco has been able to prepare for its five years of football quietly, updating existing venues while constructing roads and a rail network that will benefit the country for years to come.
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An announcement earlier this year that the country will build the world’s biggest football stadium in Rabat has changed the mood, at least in the country itself. Protests among members of the Gen Z community have been a response to concerns that Morocco is prioritising football over social welfare.
The deaths of several women in maternity hospitals prompted this, while concerns persist that people remain homeless following an earthquake in the Atlas Mountains in 2023.
And Morocco is in a far more restricted position than Qatar, albeit with ambitions also underwritten by natural resource deposits and associated revenues. The country is home to 70 percent of the world’s known phosphate deposits, which contribute to funding Afcon 2025 and World Cup 2030.
Some of the phosphate deposits are mined on land claimed by others. This has made for fractious relations with neighbouring Algeria. The border between the two countries remains closed, which will necessitate fans of the Algerian national team having to travel via a third country to arrive in Morocco.
Soft power can be further enhanced by victory on the field, which Morocco seems better equipped to achieve than Qatar. This is why staging of tournaments such as the Arab Cup have become fundamental to assessing the long-term success of event hosting.
Morocco will find out soon enough that match wins alone will be insufficient if the country is to justify all the money it is now spending on its football ambitions.
Simon Chadwick is professor of AfroEurasion sport at Emlyon Business School in Lyon and formerly worked at Skema Business School in Paris
