According to L’Équipe, the heavy sanctions imposed on Morocco by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) could have been even more severe—potentially devastating for Moroccan football—if not for the personal intervention of CAF President Issa Hayatou.
Following Morocco’s refusal to host the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations due to Ebola fears, CAF fined the country $1 million and €8 million in damages and banned it from the next two editions of the tournament (2017 and 2019). However, behind the scenes, some CAF decision-makers reportedly pushed for even harsher punishment: a total ban on Morocco’s participation in all CAF competitions—both national and club levels—until 2022, effectively excluding Morocco from continental football until after the Qatar World Cup.
Issa Hayatou, who has presided over African football since 1988, is said to have stepped in decisively. “If you do that, you are killing Moroccan football,” L’Équipe quotes him as saying to other committee members. His intervention helped scale down the sanctions to the current form, sparing Moroccan clubs and national teams from broader exclusion.
This revelation underscores both the high tension within CAF’s executive circles at the time and Hayatou’s enduring influence. While the sanctions still shocked Moroccan officials and fans, they narrowly avoided a long-term crisis that would have crippled the country’s football development and international competitiveness.
