Wafcon 2024: Morocco eyes next step to become football superpower

Building the Stade Hassan II alone is expected to cost $500m (£365m), a staggering sum given some communities are still rebuilding after the powerful earthquake that hit Morocco’s central region in 2023.

High taxation rates – with all annual personal income over 180,000 dirhams ($19,700, £14,400) taxed at 37% – are also filling the country’s coffers and helping fund infrastructure projects.

Amnesty International notes that Morocco restricts freedom of expression, including through the criminalisation of criticism of Islam, the monarchy and state institutions, and when the BBC toured Rabat earlier this year no-one was prepared to speak on the record about how public finances were being spent.

That is, in part, because of King Mohammed VI’s passion for football and the projects associated with bringing the World Cup back to Africa for the first time in 20 years.

However, in February a trade union official blamed government policies for “widening economic disparity” in the country, where the most recent census showed that unemployment stood at 21.3%.

Morocco has won male youth titles in recent years but will have some major silverware to show for its outlay on footballing development should the Atlas Lionesses lift the Wafcon trophy in Rabat on 26 July.

“In the last four years, I feel like I’ve seen a shift in the change of investment, in taking women’s football seriously, not only in Morocco but across Africa as well,” forward Rosella Ayane told the BBC’s Africa Daily podcast.

“Morocco is really leading the way. The football centre in Rabat (the Mohammed VI Complex) is probably one of the best around the world.

“It’s like anything in life. [If] you invest your time, money and resources, then it’s only going to improve.”