Ahmed Yahyaoui, an official with the Royal Belgian Football Association, has described the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Morocco as an unquestionable success on all fronts.
Speaking on Monday in Brussels, Yahyaoui told the Maghreb Arab Press Agency that Morocco has firmly established itself as a continental benchmark, both in terms of organisation and sporting excellence. He insisted that the tournament’s success was beyond debate.
“Whether some like it or not, this continental cup has achieved resounding success,” he said, adding that serious observers widely agree it was “the best edition in the history of the competition.”
Drawing on his five years of experience with the Royal Belgian Football Association, Yahyaoui praised the high standard of Morocco’s sports infrastructure, the efficiency of logistics and transport systems, and the warm yet professional reception accorded to African delegations. He also highlighted the effectiveness of security arrangements and crowd management throughout the tournament.
According to him, these combined elements clearly demonstrate the overall success of the Africa Cup of Nations, noting that the achievement was made possible through coordinated efforts involving public authorities, sports institutions and all other stakeholders.
On the sporting side, the former Moroccan international commended the national team’s continued progress, pointing to Morocco’s fourth-place finish at the 2022 World Cup and their run to the final of AFCON 2025 as achievements that “deserve respect and recognition.”
He further stated that Morocco is now firmly among the world’s leading football nations, a status reflected in its current FIFA ranking. Yahyaoui described this rise as evidence of a structured and sustainable football project built on training, performance and long-term stability.
Yahyaoui concluded by underlining the crucial role played by King Mohammed VI in the development of Moroccan football, stressing that sustained investment in stadiums, training centres and sports infrastructure has placed Morocco on par with, and in some cases ahead of, several European countries.
