Sport Business: How to make our investments profitable? [FULL]

The Kingdom is deploying an ambitious strategy combining sport, economic development, and influence diplomacy. A trajectory which, while it attracts the support of some, also raises questions about its real impact on the populations.
Because the figures are eloquent. According to a study by the Moroccan Federation of Sports Professionals (FMPS), private sport represented nearly 1.56% of the national GDP in 2022, i.e., more than 21 billion dirhams. By including the public and associative components, this percentage exceeds 2.5%, generating more than 115,000 jobs. On the scale of the continent, this dynamic remains timid, with African sport currently accounting for only 0.5 to 1.5% of global GDP. But the potential is immense, and Morocco seems determined to lead the way.

Last Tuesday, during the Global Growth Conference, organised by the Amadeus Institute, Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), vigorously defended these large-scale projects. "Investment in sport is a lever for economic, social, and territorial development. It has cascading effects on infrastructure, health, logistics, and, of course, employment", he declared, insisting on the coherence of the Moroccan development model, characterised by a "perfect parallelism between social and economic development", without any notable "imbalance" for more than 25 years.
This dynamic was reflected from the beginning of 2025 by a busy calendar: Women's AFCON in July, Women's U17 World Cup in the autumn, then Men's AFCON in winter, before the 2030 World Cup, with its 48 teams and 7 weeks of competition. Morocco hopes to welcome more than 5 million visitors and generate 15 billion dollars in revenue in the three host countries.

There is no shortage of accompanying structural projects. Modernisation of stadiums, extension of the high-speed line to Marrakech and Agadir, new road and tourism projects throughout the country… Development is thought out in a logic of territorial rebalancing. "His Majesty the King has designated Agadir as the new centre of the Kingdom, and investments in the Southern provinces are multiplying", underlines Lekjaa.

The President of the FRMF also wanted to emphasise that Morocco did not wait for these events to invest in its infrastructure. "We did not wait for the World Cup to launch these projects". A vision shared by Will Mbiakop, President of the Africa Sports & Creative Institute (ASCI), for whom these events promote a holistic development of the nation.
 

A stadium: More than 40 trades mobilised

But beyond the image, the modernisation of football infrastructure is unprecedented. While several stadiums will be ready in the coming weeks, the momentum goes beyond the purely sporting framework to encompass a vast entrepreneurial dimension creating massive jobs; entire sectors are being structured. Each stadium mobilises more than 40 specialities and trades: engineering, construction, cybersecurity, tech start-ups… The local economic fabric, from small businesses to large companies, is directly involved. An inclusive approach that is also intended to be transparent, according to the President of the FRMF. This transparency and this open approach are historical choices of Morocco, promoting international collaboration, as evidenced by the partnerships involving English architects, French companies for the pitches, and Spanish drainage specialists at the grand stadium of Rabat.


What needs to be corrected in the African sports value chain

Beyond this national dynamic, Fouzi Lekjaa, now First Vice-President of the CAF, pointed the finger at the flaws in the African sports value chain. The flight of young talent to European championships between the ages of 10-20 deprives African football of considerable added value. "We must invest in the 10 to 20 age group", he insists, highlighting the need for "professional and structural corrections".

Another critical point concerns broadcasting rights. The recent failures of "New World TV" for the 2025 AFCON recalled the urgency of investing in local skills. In response, the CAF has launched a Broadcasting Academy and a Television Directors Programme in Johannesburg, because, as in France where they represent 50% to 75% of club revenues, audiovisual rights are a crucial source of income.

Fouzi Lekjaa recalled that modern football is now a matter of technology and mastery of detail: sports medicine, recovery, fine analysis. A team of 25 players is thus accompanied by a staff of more than 30 people, "a sport where every detail counts, and which therefore requires considerable investment".

Despite considerable investments and an affirmed ambition, the path remains strewn with pitfalls. Beyond the current momentum, it is essential to ensure a concrete social impact for these projects, while tackling the structural obstacles that hinder the development of sport in Africa: insufficient funding for infrastructure, limited training of technical staff, and the continuous flight of talent. For Morocco to truly establish its role as a regional leader and make sport a driver of inclusive development on a continental scale, it is imperative to invest more in human capital, strengthen local skills, and put in place relevant strategies to retain talent. Can Morocco, through this proactive approach, inspire a new model of sustainable sports development on an African scale?
 

Preparations for the 2025 AFCON and the 2030 World Cup are accelerating, as presented during a meeting organised on Wednesday, May 21, in Rabat by the CGEM and the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF). Zineb Benmoussa, DG of the National Agency for Public Equipment (ANEP), and Ikram Sehhar of SONARGES presented the progress and schedule of the structural projects. SONARGES is supervising the renovation of 4 stadiums - Tanger, Fès, Marrakech, and Agadir -, the reconstruction of the Moulay Abdellah Complex, and the construction of the new Grand Stade Hassan II in Benslimane. The stadiums of Fès, Marrakech, and Agadir will be ready by June for the 2025 AFCON, before being adapted to FIFA standards during a second phase starting in November 2025, with a budget of approximately 2 billion dirhams per stadium to expand the stands and remove the athletics tracks, while the Grand Stade de Tanger is already compliant with FIFA standards. Four other stadiums, including Al Barid and Moulay El Hassan in Rabat, the Olympic Stadium, the annex of the Moulay Abdellah Complex, and the Mohammed V Complex in Casablanca, are exclusively dedicated to the 2025 AFCON. The Grand Stade Hassan II, under construction, will launch its 3rd phase of work in December 2025. Thus, the 2030 World Cup infrastructure will include the Moulay Abdellah Complex, the Grand Stade de Tanger (ready in 2025), the stadiums of Fès, Marrakech, and Agadir (adapted after the AFCON), as well as the new Grand Stade Hassan II of Benslimane, designed especially for the event.