Fez — Casamémoire has launched a new cultural program in Casablanca entitled “Sport, Ville et Patrimoine” (“Sports, City, and Heritage,”) timed with the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The initiative was announced on December 15 at the American Arts Center in Casablanca and will run through January 15, 2026, offering an event calendar that includes an exhibition, conferences, film screenings, and guided visits.

Casamémoire says the program is designed as a dialogue between architecture, history, and sporting practices, using Casablanca’s sports sites to tell a wider story about the city’s identity and social memory.

Karim Rouissi, the association’s president, said the goal is to show that Casablanca is not only a football city, but a multisport metropolis with places deeply rooted in collective memory, many of which remain unknown outside their neighborhoods or athletic circles.

Exhibition highlights Casablanca’s ‘sports heritage’ sites

Alongside the launch, the association presented an exhibition titled “Patrimoine sportif de Casablanca,” tracing the history and evolution of major sports landmarks across the city.

The exhibition spotlights locations including Mohammed V Stadium, Père Jégo Stadium, Larbi Ben M’Barek Stadium, the Velodrome, L’Idéal Sports Complex, CMC and USM, La Casablancaise, the TAS ground, “Dar Chabab” in Hay Mohammadi, Casablanca’s boulodromes, and the Grand Stade Hassan II.

Rouissi also pointed to specific sites as examples of Casablanca’s wider sporting story, including the Velodrome’s links to cycling history and the Tour du Maroc, the early role of Larbi Ben M’Barek Stadium, and the city’s boulodromes as spaces that produced world pétanque champions.

What’s next: films and guided tours in January

Sara Boudaoud, Casamémoire’s chief coordinator, said the program includes conferences on sports architecture and urban identity, as well as screenings of Moroccan films focused on sport in everyday life, scheduled for January 7 and 8.

She added that guided tours are planned for January 10 and 11, connecting the Old Medina, the Habous district, and several emblematic sports sites through a route meant to link territory, memory, and sporting practice.

Reflection: why this matters during a major tournament

With Morocco hosting AFCON from December 21 to January 18, Casamémoire’s approach reframes sport as more than competition, treating stadiums, clubs, and local grounds as cultural infrastructure that shapes how residents experience the city.