Morocco call for rotational WC hosting

TWO days before submission of their Fifa World Cup bid, Morocco have called for a rotational system that will give equal opportunity to each of the five continents.

The African nation faces the challenge of a joint bid from the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concaf) member states Canada, Mexico and the United States of America to host the 2026 Fifa World Cup finals.

Speaking during the inaugural Caf Women’s symposium held in Rabat last week, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation Fouzi Lekjaa said organising the world’s biggest football showpiece must be a platform to ensure there is balance in its implementation.

“The continent has had this honour only once to host the Fifa World Cup as we are approaching the first 100 years of the first World Cup. Organising the World Cup has to be a platform to ensure world football balance by implementing the principle of rotation between continents. It is time that we all mobilise to defend the little right to take the African continent to its place in world football,” said Lekjaa.

The decision to choose the 2026 World Cup hosts will be made on June 13 in the Russian capital Moscow and since bidding nations are not eligible to vote, the successful hosts have to receive at least 104 votes of the 207 eligible members.

Morocco previously launched unsuccessful bids in 1994, 1998 and 2006.

Last week, former Fifa president Sepp Blatter said he believed the Moroccan bid should succeed given the “nightmare” experience of co-hosting encountered when the World Cup was jointly staged by Japan and South Korea in 2002. - @skhumoyo2000