Country pulled out of hosting 2015 tournament but has since become central figure within world football
It is hard to conceive that Morocco, now the nerve centre for staging Africa’s marquee football events, was a continental pariah 10 years ago.
Abruptly pulling out of hosting the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, over fears it would lead to the spread of the Ebola virus in the kingdom, forced the Confederation of African Football to move the tournament to Equatorial Guinea, with less than 90 days to prepare for its staging.
For Hicham El Amrani, the Moroccan who was then Caf’s general secretary, it was a tough period. “The pressure I was under can only be imagined, as I was pulled in different directions,” he later said. “It is a time I would like to forget.”
It led to Morocco’s ban from the next two Afcons and punitive fines from Caf which were overturned at the court of arbitration for sport.
