Transparency in Sports Management in Morocco

This project, funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Rabat, aimed to promote transparency in public funds allocated to sports in Morocco, particularly football. Recognizing that sports, especially football, play an essential educational and social role while attracting people across all age groups and social classes, the project also acknowledged serious issues related to opaque financial management, despite existing legal frameworks such as Law 30-09 on Physical Education and Sports.

According to the 2015 Transparency International report, Morocco was among the countries with the least transparent sports management systems. The report highlighted several problems: lack of ethics codes within sports federations, failure to publish budgets and financial reports, and political exploitation of sports events.

In Morocco, where sports are primarily financed by public money, several scandals—ranging from poorly built stadiums to match-fixing—revealed the misuse of public funds and weak enforcement of transparency and public accountability laws.

• Promote transparency in the management of public resources allocated to sports, especially football;
• Involve young people as future stakeholders in monitoring and evaluating sports policies and management practices;
• Hold public authorities accountable by bringing attention to dysfunctions and advocating for the enforcement of laws related to access to information and transparency.

• Reviewed Moroccan laws, FIFA rules, and sports budgets;
• Conducted a comparative analysis (benchmarking) with other countries such as Tunisia, France, and Spain to identify transparency standards and ethical practices;
• Analyzed official websites of Moroccan sports federations and leagues to evaluate their level of transparency (e.g., general assembly proceedings, published reports);
• Investigated cases of corruption and conflict of interest through media sources and official events;
• Engaged subject matter experts (journalists, policymakers, sports officials) to support the initiative;
• Actively involved youth in the diagnostic and evaluation process.

Phase 1: Research and Documentation

• Collected data on public grants and subsidies allocated to clubs;
• Assessed the level of financial disclosure by clubs and the national federation;
• Analyzed FIFA’s ethical requirements and related enforcement actions;
• Monitored discussions in online forums and Facebook groups to gather public sentiment.

Phase 2: Diagnosis and Preparation

• Produced a detailed diagnostic report on transparency in Moroccan football governance;
• Developed recommendations;
• Planned a stakeholder seminar: issued invitations and initiated direct outreach;
• Four youth participants from the online discussions were selected to help present the final recommendations.

Phase 3: Presentation and Advocacy

• Held a final seminar to present the diagnostic findings and recommendations to key stakeholders, including public authorities, civil society actors, and sports federations.