Sports Governance in Morocco: Legal Framework, Budgetary Challenges, and Preparation for the 2030 FIFA World Cup

Abstract

Morocco will host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and will co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Spain and Portugal, placing its sports governance under international scrutiny. These mega-events are accompanied by major public investments and raise crucial issues of sustainable development and post-competition legacy. This theoretical research analyzes the legal framework, budgetary challenges, and institutional preparation of the Moroccan sports system facing this historic challenge, in a particularly favorable demographic context for sports development.

The study employs a triangulated documentary analysis based on official legal sources, recent governmental institutional reports, and recent academic surveys. The theoretical framework mobilizes three complementary approaches enabling the analysis of State-federation relations, understanding of resource allocation imbalances, and explanation of observed operational inefficiencies : agency theory, stakeholder theory, and transaction cost theory.

Results reveal a major structural paradox : Morocco has an ambitious legal framework compliant with international standards, but implementation faces chronic deficits. The analysis identifies three critical imbalances : a hyper-concentration of public resources on football (over 65% of subsidies) to the detriment of other disciplines, a marked imbalance between elite and mass sport limiting populations' access to sports practices, and a strong dependence on public funding undermining the system's sustainability. The recent creation of the Morocco 2030 Foundation constitutes a major institutional opportunity but presents significant risks related to the absence of a clearly defined post-2030 legacy strategy and appropriate transitional governance mechanisms.

The article formulates strategic recommendations structured according to three complementary time horizons to transform the 2030 opportunity into sustainable and equitable sports development.

JEL Classification: Z28, Z21, H54, K23, O55

Paper type: Theoretical Research