This year’s Africa Cup of Nations has attracted good spectator numbers so far. There is said to be a special reason for this.
The 60,180 spectators at Morocco vs. Comoros were undoubtedly attracted by the fact that the host of the Africa Cup of Nations was playing here. And despite being booed at half-time, they scored a fantastic overhead kick to win the game.
But even aside from the opening game, the tournament in Morocco has attracted very good attendance figures after the first day of the preliminary round. For example, there were 35,200 spectators at Cameroon vs. Gabon (1-0) and 28,199 at Egypt vs. Zimbabwe (2-1). Only one match fell below the 10,000 mark, and by a wide margin: South Africa vs. Angola (2-1) attracted 4,013 spectators.
However, these figures cannot be explained by everyday reasons. The organizers apparently allow spectators free entry to the stadiums after the kick-off. This was reported by a source from the African Football Association (CAF) to the AFP news agency.
Cameroon’s match against Gabon on Wednesday in Agadir started in front of almost empty stands. Despite the incessant rain, the stadium filled up significantly during the first half. The official attendance was later reported as 35,200, although the stadium has a capacity of over 45,000.
Stadium capacity is important with a view to the 2030 World Cup
Similar scenes had been seen at numerous matches in the early days of the competition, which caused some confusion regarding attendance figures. For example, the Group D match between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Benin on Tuesday at the Al-Medina Stadium in Rabat was initially reported to have had 6,703 fans in attendance, but the figure was later corrected to 13,073.
According to the source, the organizers, in consultation with the African Football Confederation, opened the stands about 20 minutes after the start of the game so that fans gathered outside the stadium could enter without paying. Stadium attendance at the Africa Cup of Nations is of great importance to the organizers with a view to the 2030 World Cup, as Morocco will co-host the tournament with Spain and Portugal.
There were major problems with attendance at the Africa Cup of Nations two years ago in Ivory Coast. This may be why the CAF is particularly keen to ensure that these circumstances do not repeat themselves this time around.
On Thursday, tickets were still available on the CAF’s official ticket platform for almost all remaining group matches of the Africa Cup of Nations, starting at 100 dirhams (equivalent to around €9.30).
According to this, only the matches between host Morocco and Mali on Friday and Zambia on Monday, as well as Algeria against Burkina Faso on Sunday and Algeria against Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday, are considered sold out. What the information about free admission after kick-off has to do with the number of tickets sold remains unclear for now – and will have to be monitored.
