Morocco has failed to win the bid to host the 2026 World Cup, losing out to the United States, Canada and Mexico.
United States, Canada and Mexico presented a joint bid beating Morocco’s proposal during voting on Wednesday.
Called the ‘United 2026’, the joint bid secured 134 votes against Morocco’s 65 votes from Fifa member nations.
What is wrong with Morocco’s bid?
Morocco’s bid although passed a Fifa inspection process was deemed “high risk” in some areas.
The north African country scored 2.7 out of five in Fifa’s test but the joint bid from United States, Canada and Mexico scored four. That score was deemed “high risk” free in all areas.
Fifa said of the 14 stadiums submitted by Morocco, nine were yet to be built and the remaining five “require significant renovation or upgrading”.
2026 Wold Cup
The 2026 world cup due to changes to the competition format by Fifa will be the biggest World Cup ever held. There will be 48 teams playing 80 matches over 34 days.
16 cities will host the event with the United States alone having 10 cities. Six other cities will be split between between Canada and Mexico.
That means there will be sixty matches taking place in the US. Canada and Mexico will host 10 games each.
Reactions
There have been reactions from representatives of both bidding teams. The US Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro said “Football is the only victor. We are all united in football”.
“Thank you so, so much for this incredible honour. Thank you for entrusting us with this privilege,” Cordeiro added.
The Morocco Federation congratulated “Fifa for the conduct of this process and congratulate the president for what he has done in order to move things towards more transparency and more inclusion.
Morocco Federation said it will “to continue to work for football and realise one day our dream to host the World Cup in Morocco.”
This is the fifth time Morocco is bidding and fails to once again win.
Source: Africafeeds.com
