Study: Football as a Lever for Development in Morocco

A comprehensive analytical paper, coinciding with the media and digital coverage of the current edition of the "2026 World Cup," issued by the African Center for Strategic Studies and Digitization, shed more light on the "growing role" of football as a bearer of human values, a lever for national unity, and a vital area for renewing the ambitions of Moroccan youth.

The paper, available to Hespress, illustrated "how media and digital momentum can transform a fleeting sports achievement into an impactful national narrative that transcends the boundaries of stadiums to touch upon aspects of culture, diplomacy, and the international image of the Kingdom," paving the way for hosting the historic "World Cup 2030" in partnership with Spain and Portugal.

Titled "Morocco and the World Cup: Between Sports Achievement, Media Momentum, and Building Soft Power," the report starts from a central thesis that "hosting the World Cup is not just a sporting event that ends with the referee's whistle, but a rare historical opportunity to build lasting soft power, provided that these efforts are not limited to stadiums and facilities, but must be coupled with a clear national narrative and ongoing investment in values, culture, and digital diplomacy."

The center's "comparative diagnosis," based on the "Brand Finance" index for 2025, indicates that Morocco leads the Maghreb region, ranking fiftieth globally and third in Africa, recommending that this "necessitates a shift from focusing on hard infrastructure and cement to investing in the international reputation industry; because true soft power is not issued as propaganda but is first lived through complete consistency between official discourse and daily practice."

The same source provided a sober assessment of three recent reference experiences: the first being the "Qatar 2022 experience," which proved that "spontaneous value moments, such as parental pride and players' prostration, build in a few days what systematic advertising campaigns cannot build in years."

The report also passes through the "2025 Africa Cup of Nations" station to reveal "profound lessons in governing critical moments and managing image," indicating that winning the continental title through a legal decision does not grant the same emotional symbolic value that the green rectangle provides, necessitating the establishment of immediate multilingual communication crisis cells; leading up to the ongoing 2026 World Cup, where the Moroccan national team has solidified its position as an authentic symbol of the global south after reaching the quarter-finals for the second consecutive time, transforming the achievement from "an isolated coincidence to a sustainable structural work system that combines professional training and attracting global talents."