AFCON 2025 yields $192.6m, reshaping African sports finance
Morocco’s hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations generated record revenues for the continent’s football body and proved that regional tournaments can fund global-scale infrastructure without debt.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) generated approximately $192.6 million in total revenue from this year’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, a 90 percent increase over the 2023 edition. Net profit reached $113.8 million. CAF President Patrice Motsepe called it "the most successful commercial story in the history of African football."
The tournament now accounts for 60 to 66 percent of CAF’s total revenue for the 2025/26 financial year, underscoring a structural shift in the organization's business model. CAF has centralized marketing rights and improved broadcast standards, attracting a record 23 sponsors. Brands from the US, China, Germany, and Japan contributed roughly $126 million in sponsorship revenue, treating African football as a direct channel to fast-growing consumer markets.
Broadcasters secured 20 rights deals across more than 30 European territories. All 52 matches aired free-to-air in the UK via Channel 4, marking a distribution breakthrough that brought the tournament into mainstream European households and diaspora communities.
For Morocco, the event served as a financial bridge to the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which it will co-host with Spain and Portugal. Direct revenues exceeded €1 billion to €1.5 billion ($1.17 billion), covering all tournament costs and funding roughly 80 percent of the infrastructure required for the World Cup. This approach allowed the kingdom to accelerate a decade of stadium and transport upgrades into two years without relying on debt-financed projects.
The macroeconomic effects were pronounced. Nearly 600,000 foreign visitors travelled to Morocco for the matches, pushing visitor spending up 190 percent, according to Visa data. Domestic consumption rose by up to 30 percent, automobile sales jumped 35 percent, and roughly 100,000 jobs were supported. The government credited the tournament with helping push national growth above 4.5 percent in 2025.
Corporate beneficiaries included Royal Air Maroc, which earned approximately 1.5 billion dirhams ($150 million) from tournament-related travel. The broader tourism sector also saw sustained benefits, with the country welcoming 19.8 million tourists in 2025 and generating 124 billion dirhams in total tourism revenue.
The financial windfall is cascading down to national federations. CAF doubled annual funding to member associations to roughly $400,000 each, while prize money increased significantly, with the champion earning up to $10 million. For mid-sized economies and sports federations in emerging markets, Morocco has demonstrated how a regional championship can be monetized to permanently alter a nation's infrastructure and a continent's sports economy.
