A few days ago, I had the opportunity to experience something different. I went to a professional football match, a very special one. For months, we have noticed that there are posters all around Tangiers for the Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON. This is the main biennial international men’s association football competition in Africa, first held in 1957. Since 1968, it has been held every two years, and is expected to become a quadrennial event, taking place in leap years from 2028.
With the first tournament in 1957, there were only three participating nations: Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia. South Africa was originally scheduled to join, but was disqualified due to the apartheid policies of the government then in power. Since then, the tournament has expanded to 24 teams. Egypt is the most successful nation in the cup’s history, winning the tournament seven times, with Cameroon winning five times and Ghana four times.
Morocco is hosting the 2025 Africa Cup in six cities: Casablanca, Rabat, Tanger, Fez, Agadir and Marrakech. It’s a big deal in Morocco, bringing in thousands of fans from around the world. While chatting with our friends Reda and Jasmine a few weeks ago, I wondered about the possibility of going to one of the games. In the end, Reda arranged to get the tickets (online) and for a mere 15 euros per seat – we went to a game!
For convenience, we picked a game that was actually in Tangiers/Tanger, in the 1/8 finals (for economy, as the prices rise as you get closer to the finals). The match was held in the Grand Stadium of Tanger, a recently expanded venue that holds about 75,000 fans. The playing surface is grass, real grass, not artificial turf – with very good drainage.
We selected the match between Senegal and Sudan. On game day, Reda parked the car a few blocks away, and we entered the stadium grounds.
As we were walking in, and next to the stadium, we walked by a smaller Futsal stadium, and I asked Reda – what is Futsal?
For clarification, “soccer” or “football” is an outdoor game while Futsal is an indoor game. Soccer has 11 players while Futsal is played with 5 players. In a game of soccer, three substitutions are allowed while there are unlimited substitutions in a game of Futsal. The half time in Soccer is 45 minutes while it is only 20 minutes in Futsal.
When entering the stadium, our e-tickets were checked 8 times (I counted) and we were bodily frisked 3 times. Our seats were dry (it was a rainy/misty night) and there was very good overhead cover over most of the stadium. This was my first view inside the stadium, walking in at about 1705, daylight.
Once inside the stadium, my impression was that the environment was a bit loud, and dominated by the music/drumming of the Senegal fans – marked in green/yellow and red.
They had a very well practiced rhythm/drum show that increased in tempo as Senegal got the ball and moved towards the Sudan goal line. It was a lot like being front and centre in a Hollywood filming of a King Kong movie! At half time, the jumbo screen showed that there were 30,045 fans in attendance. Not full, but still – a lot of people. (there was no “half time” show by the way)
In the end, Senegal defeated Sudan 3:1 and moved forward in the series.
The stadium was very clean, with no sign of litter. The seats were surprisingly comfortable, just plastic with no cushion – but it was fine. I never noticed any “No Smoking” signs, but there was none going on. Fans were very respectful of the rules. This was the nighttime view of the interior.
When exiting, we walked by several concession stands. It appeared that they did not sell any hot or prepared foods, just pre-packaged snacks and drinks. None of which I saw in the stands.
It has been a long time since I went to any event with so many people in attendance. At one point during the game, thousands of fans held up their cell phones with a flashlight app – something that years ago used to be done with a BIC lighter! I also made a comparison to watching an ice hockey game, something I’m very familiar with. With this football match, we were sitting quite far away, yet could easily follow the play: slow moving players, white ball on a green surface. Compare this to a hockey game, where the players move extremely quickly with skates on an ice surface, and the puck is a small distant black object.
There were many female fans, but Diane chose not to go with us. It was a boys night out. In the end, I was very grateful for the experience, and thanked my friend Reda for making it happen.
