Football: Morocco says it’s joining Spain-Portugal 2030 World Cup bid
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Moroccan player Achraf Dari (right) celebrates a goal during the Qatar 2022 World Cup tournament.
PHOTO: AFP
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RABAT – King Mohammed VI of Morocco announced on Tuesday that his country had joined the bid by Spain and Portugal to host the centenary World Cup Finals in 2030. The news also means that war-torn Ukraine is likely to be dropped from the bid.
He made the announcement in a message delivered as he was named the winner of the African Football Confederation 2022 Award of Excellence in Kigali, where world governing body Fifa is holding its annual congress.
“I would like to announce that the Kingdom of Morocco has decided, together with Spain and Portugal, to present a joint-bid to host the 2030 World Cup,” King Mohammed said in a letter read by the country’s minister of sport Chakib Benmoussa.
“This joint-bid, which is unprecedented in football history, will bring together Africa and Europe, the northern and southern Mediterranean, and the African, Arab and Euro-Mediterranean worlds.
“It will also bring out the best in all of us – in effect a combination of genius, creativity, experience and means.”
A spokesman for the Spanish football federation said it would meet its Portuguese and Moroccan counterparts in Kigali, Rwanda but made no mention of Ukraine.
“The presidents will announce any news regarding the candidacy for the 2030 World Cup in Kigali,” the spokesman added.
Spain and Portugal declared their joint-candidacy in 2020, before adding Ukraine to their bid last October. In contrast to the distance between Ukraine, and Spain and Portugal, Morocco is separated from Spain only by the Strait of Gibraltar.
A South American bid comprising Uruguay, which hosted and won the first Cup in 1930, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile is set to challenge the Iberian bid, and Saudi Arabia hopes to lead a joint-ticket with Egypt and Greece.
The World Cup has had joint-hosts before. In 2002, Japan and South Korea shared the competition. In 2026, the event will be played in the United States, Mexico and Canada, with 11 of the 16 planned venues in the US.
The 2026 World Cup will expand from 32 teams to 48 and, under the format Fifa announced on Tuesday, will stretch over 104 matches, up from 64 in Qatar in 2022.
Morocco was the other candidate for 2026 but finished a distant second in the voting.
That was the fifth time the African nation had bid to host the Finals after trying for the 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010 World Cups.
The Moroccans had earlier said they planned to bid for the 2030 Cup, which has been held in the continent once, South Africa in 2010.
At Qatar 2022, a fired-up Morocco side inspired the whole country when they became the first nation from either Africa or the Arab world to reach the semi-finals. Argentina, led by their talisman and captain Lionel Messi, beat France in the final to claim their third title but first since 1986. AFP, REUTERS
