AFCON 2025 in Morocco Sets New Commercial Benchmark for African Football

Rabat—The Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 has gone far beyond football. From a commercial point of view, this edition has become the most successful in the history of African football, delivering record revenues and confirming AFCON’s growing global appeal.

CAF officially announced that this tournament generated 90% more revenue than past editions. The huge jump in revenue came from better sponsorship deals, getting media rights out to more places, and deliberately reaching new global audiences, all while keeping the traditional AFCON fans happy.

One of the clearest signs of this success is how fast the commercial partners list is growing. CAF worked with nine sponsors at AFCON Cameroon 2021. That jumped to 17 for the 2023 AFCON in Côte d’Ivoire. Now, in Morocco, they hit a record 23 partners, the most ever in the competition’s history.

A global strategy built on data and reach

CAF’s commercial leap did not happen by accident. After AFCON 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire, the confederation carried out a detailed analysis of audience behavior across different regions. They found a strong interest in markets that had previously been underused.

CAF used this data to overhaul its sponsorship and broadcasting plans. They’re now focusing on high-energy regions like China, Japan, Brazil, and major parts of Europe. At the same time, they’re doubling down on their presence in Africa and other places where they already have a strong following.

Thanks to these efforts, AFCON’s sponsor base is truly global now with partners from all over: the United States, China, Germany, Japan, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, the United Kingdom and Türkiye for the first time. The additional support of the European Union as a sponsor really proves that the tournament’s international profile is expanding rapidly.

Long-standing partners such as TotalEnergies, Orange, Lonaci, 1xBet, Visa, Tecno and Puma have maintained their support, and brands like AGL, Danone and Unilever have renewed their involvement.

Another important step forward has been the fact that CAF took a major leap forward by embracing digital innovation. For the first time ever, the AFCON is in the eGaming world. They launched eAFCON in partnership with Konami and their game eFootball. This is a huge new chapter for African football, opening the door to younger fans and the fast-growing esports community.

CAF plans to fully integrate these digital assets into its commercial offering for future AFCON editions.

The commercial success of the Morocco 2025 AFCON really tells us something important. African football’s biggest tournament isn’t just growing in terms of the game itself but has managed to position itself as a major international sports business. And the 2025 edition in Morocco marked the turning point.