Empty at kick-off and then suddenly full
That’s behind the stadium puzzle at the Africa Cup
December 26, 2025 – 7:45 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
The Africa Cup of Nations is currently taking place in Morocco. Depending on when fans tune in, the stadium will be empty or full. Why?
Since last weekend, 24 teams have been fighting for victory in the Africa Cup of Nations. The best teams on the African continent are dueling in Morocco. And even though the games so far promise a lot of drama and excitement, hardly any games have been sold out so far.
At kick-off, a completely different picture often emerges: in some cases, the stadiums in the country of fourth place in the World Cup are even largely empty. But if you tune in for the second half, you’ll see a completely different picture. Then many of the stands are even full. But this is not due to unpunctual spectators or problems with entry.
As the AFP news agency reports, the organizers let fans into the stadium free of charge from the 20th minute onwards when games are empty. A senior person at the African football association CAF is said to have confirmed this.
The aim is apparently to disguise the rather low level of interest from spectators on site. With success: At the game between Cameroon and Gabon on Christmas Eve, the stadium in Agadir was initially barely full, but in the end the CAF reported a spectator number of 35,200. A solid number for a stadium with 45,000 seats. For the game between Benin and the Democratic Republic of Congo, there was initially talk of around 6,700 fans in the stadium in Rabat, but the number was later revised upwards to almost 13,100. Similar scenes occurred in other games.
Only four games have been sold out so far: the first two group games between hosts Morocco and neighboring Algeria. The tickets cost the equivalent of at least ten euros.