AFCON 2025: Cheaper travel to Morocco than an FA Cup match?

A friend and I went to Morocco last weekend to watch Senegal against Sudan in the round of 16 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.

Traveling was a bargain as we booked quite early and we only paid 300 Moroccan Dirhams for our tickets, which works out to £24.13. However, that’s because we decided to push the boat out and go for category 2 tickets. The cheapest tickets on sale for the match at the 75,500-seat Tangier Grand Stadium were available for just £12.06.

The ticket prices for AFCON 2025 are a relief for fans of international football, especially after the FIFA ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup caused such a frenzy.

Decent day trip to Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier #AFCON2025.

Free Laughing Cow cheese in the fan park more than made up for the lack of beer. pic.twitter.com/fKIHnQhmK6

— Robert Summerscales (@robsummerscales) January 3, 2026

Plenty of other English fans are turning to AFCON 2025 to provide a mid-season overview of international tournament football.

A Hull City supporter announced on social media earlier this week that they had decided to miss their team’s home match against Blackburn in the third round of the FA Cup to instead watch Algeria against Nigeria in Marrakech.

Scott Wood, a 36-year-old father of three, revealed he decided to book the trip after increasing the cost of a getaway to Millwall vs Hull just before Christmas.

After figuring out that the Millwall game would earn him £270 – including travel, accommodation and a match ticket – Scott set his sights on a trip to a completely different continent.

In response to a post about Algeria vs Nigeria, Scott tweeted: “I debated getting rid of Millwall last month, but £140 train, £30 match ticket, £100 hotel. Booked to go here, £80 return flight, £16 match ticket, £100 hotel.

“So this weekend I will be supporting Nigerian Hull centre-back Semi Ajayi in Marrakech instead of Blackburn in the FA Cup.”

A Hull City fan decided to go to AFCON 2025 rather than watch his team in the FA Cup

Are AFCON 2025 tickets still available and how much do they cost?

Tickets for two of the four quarter-finals in AFCON 2025 – Mali vs Senegal in Tangier on Friday, and Egypt vs Ivory Coast at Adrar Stadium in Agadir on Saturday – are still on sale for just 200 Moroccan dirhams for Category 3 seats. That’s only €16.09.

Meanwhile, Category 2 and Category 1 seats cost 400 (£32.17) and 600 (£48.26) Moroccan dirhams respectively.

Algeria vs Nigeria in Marrakech and Cameroon vs hosts Morocco in Rabat are now sold out. However, tickets remain on sale for the first semi-final. Fans can take their seats in Mali or Senegal versus Egypt or Ivory Coast in Tangier on January 14 for 300 (£24.13), 500 (£40.21) or 800 (£64.34) Moroccan dirhams.

Unsurprisingly, the final is fully booked, but tickets for the third-place play-off remain available for just 150 Moroccan dirhams (€12.06).

Are AFCON tickets easy to buy?

AFCON 2025 tickets are very easy to purchase. The first step is to download the Yalla app and follow the steps to create a Fan ID. This is free and involves entering your passport details. Once your details have been verified (this usually takes no more than a few hours) you will receive a Fan ID.

Then you have to go tickets.cafonline.comwhere you can purchase your tickets, where each ticket must be assigned a Fan ID.

Tickets will be accessible later through another free app called AFCON 2025 Tickets.

QPR fan Ben Horlock pictured wearing a Senegal shirt in Morocco during AFCON 2025

Is it cheaper to fly to AFCON 2025 than attend an FA Cup match in England?

Tickets for AFCON 2025 are certainly cheaper than many FA Cup matches this weekend. For example, the cheapest seat for Manchester United versus Brighton costs £54 for an adult – although Brighton have subsidized the cost for season ticket holders, who charge just £44.

Despite that discount, a Brighton fan traveling to Old Trafford by train still has to pay at least £145 to get there and back. Furthermore, the 5.30pm kick-off at Old Trafford is likely to necessitate an overnight stay, which will add another £50 to the total.

Let’s say it costs a Brighton fan without a season ticket £249 to watch his team in the FA Cup on Sunday. Can an AFCON trip really be cheaper than that?

Accommodation in Morocco is very reasonably priced. Rooms with globally recognizable hotel chains can be found in all major cities for under £50, while you can comfortably pay around £30 per night if you’re willing to book under a lesser-known name.

Meanwhile, we have already established that AFCON 2025 match tickets are super cheap.

The big problem is travel. If, like Scott, you had booked your flights a few months ago, you might have been able to travel to and from your favorite Moroccan destination for just £80.

Prices have risen since then, but you can still book direct return flights from London to Casablanca for £160 if you fancy attending the third place play-off on January 17. The outbound flight from Stansted arrives just over five hours before kick-off, with three flights departing the day after the match. The first flight back to London leaves as early as 3:55 am, in case you feel like staying up all night and saving your hotel money.

A budget package of just the flights and match ticket for the third place play-off can cost as little as £172.06, while a hotel will set you back just over £200.

It’s worth noting that these calculations don’t take into account transportation to or from airports, or even travel to London if that’s not your home city. Nevertheless, if you live in the capital and are frugal with transfers (and also willing to walk quite a distance), then it is probably is It is possible to move to third place at AFCON 2025 for less than it would cost to follow Brighton to Manchester in the FA Cup this weekend.

Alternative options, including Tangier via the “Virgin Comet”

The play-off for third place is not for everyone. Many players, managers and fans struggle to see the point of a match between two deflated semi-final losers.

So if you want to go to AFCON 2025 but don’t feel like competing for bronze, there are some alternative options. However, the logistics are a little more complex.

Tangier Grand Stadium, also known as the Ibn Batouta Stadium, is a beautiful arena and on January 9, Mali versus Senegal will be played here, followed five days later by the winner of that match against Egypt or Ivory Coast in the semi-finals.

The next direct flights from the UK to Tangier cost just £53 but are on the day of the Mali vs Senegal match and won’t get you there in time for kick-off.

So if you want to see that quarter-final, you have to be creative. An option may be to fly to Tetouan and take a train. Another is to fly to Spain or Gibraltar and then take a ferry from the south coast of Spain to Tangier.

We did the latter and the boat trip from Tarifa to Tangier Ville was far from relaxing due to the choppy water. We later learned that our ship was nicknamed ‘Vomit Comet’, and it was easy to understand why, with the soundtrack of the hour-long journey consisting of nothing but crying children and vomiting adults.

If Tangier is your destination of choice, then the semi-final on January 14 might be the best match to aim for. You can fly from London and back (with a connection in Spain in both directions) for just £118 if you leave on a Tuesday and return on a Thursday. That means you need two nights in a hotel in Tangier. Still, the whole trip (flights, hotels and match tickets) can be done for an estimated £202.13, excluding transfers.

Senegal defeated Sudan 3-1 in the round of 16 to set up an AFCON 2025 quarter-final against Mali

Is a trip to AFCON worth it?

If you’re a fan of any of the teams involved, then a trip to the Africa Cup of Nations should be high on your football bucket list.

But even for neutral colors, AFCON is definitely worth a trip. Not only is it much more affordable than other major international tournaments, some might argue that there are many reasons to suggest that AFCON is better than the Euros.

There may be a few empty seats, but there is no shortage of atmosphere, while every match means so much to everyone involved.