US has FIFA edge over Morocco in 2026 World Cup vote
MOSCOW » If the football federations follow FIFA’s guidance, the 2026 World Cup should be awarded to the North American bid on Wednesday.
Success for Morocco relies on the electorate to follow the trend of recent hosting decisions and vote for a risky bid facing doubts about the ability to pull off the vast reconstruction project required to stage soccer’s showpiece.
The 16 stadiums proposed by the joint United States- Canada-Mexico bid already exist and only need minor upgrades over eight years.
All 14 Moroccan venues must be built or renovated as part of the $16 billion investment in new infrastructure the African nation says is required.
FIFA’s inspection reports highlighted three “highrisk” elements to Morocco’s bid: stadiums, hotels and transport.
When FIFA President Gianni Infantino last week urged the more than 200 voting federations to “look at the report,” it seemed a clear signal of the governing body’s preference for security and stability offered the in North America.
A consequence of concerns expressed about the 2010 contest that resulted in hosting rights awarded to Russia for 2018 and to Qatar for 2022 was a more rigorous bidding process that required candidates to produce human rights strategies.
Morocco’s bid was singled out for “unexplored risks” in evaluations of those strategies that were produced by the BSR organization for FIFA.
In the evaluation, BSR said the Moroccan bid documents “lack consideration of topics highlighted as potential human rights risks in key international documents covering mega sporting events.”
BSR expressed apprehension about “discrimination against LGBTQ,” a reference the Moroccan law that criminalizes homosexuality.
Qatar’s World Cup prep- arations have been dogged by concerns about working conditions on stadiums, which could make voting members nervous considering a Moroccan victory would require years of extensive building work on stadium or training facilities.
An “assessment of risks associated with working conditions is insufficiently developed,” BSR said, “and does not provide detailed information on risks associated specifically with health and safety, working hours, wage, and the prevalence of informal economy in the country.”
Morocco’s bid proposes completing a 93,000- capacity Grand Stade de Casablanca one year before the World Cup kicks off. Several of its 14 venues would meet the World Cup minimum 40,000- capacity, then be scaled back to 25,000 after the tournament. In a pitch to voters in Moscow this week justifying the vast infrastructure required, Morocco tourism minister Lamia Boutaleb talked of needing to create jobs in her country “to reach the next level.”