North African country, Morocco has outlined details of its bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup rivalling joint bid from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. Morocco is making a fifth bid to host the World Cup, after failing to win rights to stage the 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010 editions. The country has selected 12 host cities, including the capital Rabat, tourism centres Marrakech and Fes, as well as Casablanca and Tanger. The other venues include Agadir, El Jadida, Meknes, Nador, Oujda, Ouarzazate and Tetouan.
Morocco has set out the advantages of staging the 48-team tournament in its country, emphasising the ease and affordability of travel, where the maximum internal flying time for any team will be around 75 minutes.
‘Morocco will deliver the best-possible conditions for players and teams,’ the Moroccan bid team’s information document states. ‘Quality of play will be enhanced by an optimal playing environment based on compact geography and a Mediterranean climate.’
The country also says that its Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) time zone will be attractive to the European audience and to sponsors.
‘Beyond profitability, Morocco's sweet spot location will allow all European fans to watch World Cup games in decent and premium hours,’ the document continues.
The country’s time zone, it says, ‘fits perfectly with the lucrative European broadcast market. Fifa will also benefit from working with a single, central government administration, for whom sustainable development is a national priority.’
The country will also highlight its ecological advantage, claiming that the ‘environmental impact of a 48-team World Cup is expected to be lower than [the two] previous 32-team World Cups.’
Morocco will need 104 votes when Fifa makes a final decision on the host of the 2026 event in Russia on 13th June.
The country qualified for its first World Cup in 20 years last November, and earlier this year both hosted and won the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN 2018), a biennial international tournament exclusively featuring players from the continent’s respective national championships.
Africa has hosted the World Cup once, when South Africa staged the event in 2010, while Mexico and the United States are hoping to host the finals for a third and second time respectively.
In this bid, Morocco will be struggling with a joint bid by Canada, Mexico and United States to host the competition.
“It is not a Moroccan project only, but also an African project. From 1930 to 2030, it’s been 100 years and the African continent has organized the World Cup only once. It should not remain at that margin,” Moulay Hafid el-Alami, chairman of the bid committee said.
Morocco’s advantages over the American countries include internal flying time which will be shorter for teams and the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) time zone which will allow fans in Europe to watch the games at favourable times.
This is the fifth time the North African country will be bidding to host the competition.
