{"id":800291,"date":"2024-11-23T20:22:17","date_gmt":"2024-11-23T20:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/?p=800291"},"modified":"2024-11-23T20:22:19","modified_gmt":"2024-11-23T20:22:19","slug":"afcon-2025-patrice-motsepes-controversial-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/afcon-2025\/afcon-2025-patrice-motsepes-controversial-statement","title":{"rendered":"AFCON 2025: Patrice Motsepe\u2019s Controversial Statement!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Arriving in Rabat on Friday, Patrice Motsepe, President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), seized the opportunity to express his admiration for Morocco, the host nation of AFCON 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Motsepe was in Morocco to attend the draw for the 2024 Women\u2019s AFCON and the Women\u2019s Champions League final, which will see AS FAR Rabat face TP Mazembe on Saturday at 5 PM GMT\u2014two major events hosted on Moroccan soil. The CAF President didn\u2019t hold back in praising the kingdom, describing it as a place where he feels \u201cat home\u201d and expressing his hope to see the Atlas Lions reach the AFCON final scheduled for January 18, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/motsepe_fouzi.jpg\" alt=\"AFCON 2025: Patrice Motsepe's Controversial Statement!\" class=\"wp-image-803994\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs CAF President, I support all countries, but I would be especially delighted\u2014truly delighted\u2014if Morocco makes it to the AFCON 2025 final, inshallah,\u201d the South African official stated during a press conference alongside Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Motsepe Clarifies His Remarks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Anticipating potential criticism of favoritism, Patrice Motsepe explained his stance by highlighting Morocco\u2019s significant contributions to African and global football in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"\u062a\u0635\u0631\u064a\u062d \u0627\u0644\u0633\u064a\u062f \u0628\u0627\u062a\u0631\u064a\u0633 \u0645\u0648\u062a\u0633\u064a\u0628\u064a \u0628\u0639\u062f \u062d\u0644\u0648\u0644\u0647 \u0628\u0627\u0644\u0645\u063a\u0631\u0628\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aaAerThmjHU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBeing a nation that unites and inspires is a source of pride for all of us\u2014for Morocco and for Africa as a whole. Moroccan football made history in Qatar, and when Morocco reached the semi-finals, it was a proud moment for all of Africa because no one had ever achieved that before. Morocco is among the few countries we know work very, very efficiently,\u201d said the 62-year-old CAF President.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite these clarifications, his remarks are likely to spark reactions, particularly in Algeria, where they could fuel suspicions of CAF favoritism toward Morocco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arriving in Rabat on Friday, Patrice Motsepe, President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), seized the opportunity to express his admiration for Morocco, the host nation of AFCON 2025. Motsepe was in Morocco to attend the draw for the 2024 Women\u2019s AFCON and the Women\u2019s Champions League final, which will see AS FAR Rabat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":800293,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1756,532],"tags":[924,144],"class_list":["post-800291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afcon-2025","category-morocco","tag-afcon-2025","tag-patrice-motsepe"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2024\/11\/mw-1920.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfmZoa-3mbV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":800294,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800291\/revisions\/800294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.afriquesports.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}