Presentation of the 12th African Games

Under the High Patronage of His Majesty the King Mohammed VI, the 12^th African Games will take place in Rabat from 19-31 August, 2019 in accordance with the MOA signed in Rabat, on November 10^th, 2018, approving Morocco to host such major sports event, following the withdrawal of Equatorial Guinea. The Games will be held in the following cities: Rabat, Salé, Temara, Casablanca, Benslimane and El Jadida.

The 12th edition, which coincides with the commemoration of the Youth Day, will be, for the first time in African Games history, a qualification step to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

This important continental event will be marked by the participation of more than 6,000 athletes competing in 26 sports disciplines, 17 of which arequalifying to the Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020.

The African Games is a multi-sport contest geared towardsadvancingtop-class African Sports and to foster cultural exchanges between the Member States of the African Union. It is held in accordance with the provisions of the Sports Architecture in Africa agreed by the 5^th Ordinary Assembly of the Ministers of Sports, convened on 25&26^th July, 2013 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and endorsed upon the Decision of the Executive Board. The organization of African Games draws from the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the Statute of the Africa Sports Council.

The first African Games were held in 1965 in Brazzaville. The Founder of the Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, who conceived the African Games, has rechristened the Friendship Games, which included French-Speaking countries; the first Games were, therefore, held in Brazzaville in 1965 and recognized by the International Olympics Committee. The previous editions of the Games were scheduled as follows:

Edition	Year	City	Country	Dates
I	1965	Brazzaville	Republic of the Congo	18 – 25 July 1965
—	1969	Bamako	Mali	Cancelled
II	1973	Lagos	Nigeria	7 – 18 January 1973
III	1978	Algiers	Algeria	13 – 28 July 1978
IV	1987	Nairobi	Kenya	1er – 12 August 1987
V	1991	Cairo	Égypte	20 September – 1er October 1991
VI	1995	Harare	Zimbabwe	13 – 23 September 1995
VII	1999	Johannesburg	South Africa	10 – 19 September 1999
VIII	2003	Abuja	Nigeria	5 – 17 October 2003
IX	2007	Algiers	Algeria	11 – 23 July 2007
X	2011	Maputo	Mozambique	3 – 18 September 2011
XI	2015	Brazzaville	Republic of the Congo	4 – 19 September 2015
XII	2019	Rabat	Morocco	19 – 31 August 2019