South Africa backs Morocco for 2026 WC
FIFA to begin Morocco World Cup inspection
JOHANNESBURG, April 16, (Agencies): South African soccer leader Danny Jordaan has promised Morocco “unqualified support” to host the 2026 World Cup in a contest against a combined North American bid.
The South African federation said Monday that Jordaan assured a visiting Morocco bid delegation “he will personally lobby” African officials ahead of the scheduled vote in Moscow on June 13.
Morocco is up against a United States-Canada-Mexico bid to stage the continent’s second World Cup South Africa hosted in 2010, after beating Morocco and Egypt in a vote.
That South African bid is being investigated by the US Department of Justice for a suspicious $10 million payment to FIFA voters in the North American region. In indictments published by the justice department in 2015, two of the listed “co-conspirators” are South African soccer officials who are not identified.
Now, Morocco is competing against the Americans to co-host the 48-team tournament. Up to 207 FIFA member federations will vote at their congress on the eve of the World Cup in Russia.
North American bid leaders targeted the 14-member southern African soccer body COSAFA at a February meeting in Johannesburg.
Meanwhile, FIFA inspectors arrived in Morocco on Monday ahead of a three-day assessment of the north African country’s ability to host the 2026 World Cup, the local bid committee said.
The five-member FIFA Task Force will begin its inspection on Tuesday, visiting stadiums, training facilities, fan sites and media centres.
Morocco is offering FIFA and the global football family an innovative and compact concept to ensure operational efficiency, outstanding profitability and a lasting legacy in Morocco and Africa, said the bid committee’s president, Moulay Hafid Elalamy in a statement.
The World Cup in Morocco would not only be a source of pride but also a great catalyst for development.
The only other bid is a joint one from the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Due to FIFA’s intention to spread the hosting rights for the World Cup more evenly across the globe, European and Asian countries were not allowed to bid for 2026 this year’s World Cup will be in Russia with the next one in 2022 in Qatar.
A decision on the 2026 hosts is due to be made on June 13 at the FIFA Congress, the day before the World Cup begins in Russia.
Should neither candidate be chosen, bidders from Europe and Asia will be invited to submit their proposals. added a fifth before Radamel Falcao turned into his own net and Julian Draxler struck late on as PSG romped to the club’s seventh championship.
“Other teams have more titles than us. Monaco, Nantes, Saint-Etienne, Marseille, Lyon ... but we must keep on building,” Emery, who is likely to be replaced in the summer, told Canal+.
“There is a solid tool for the future, to remain number one in France and become that elsewhere with patience and hard work.”
With a fifth successive League Cup already won, PSG completed the second leg of a domestic treble — they are also through to the French Cup semifinals — and could yet break their record 96-point haul from the 2015-16 campaign.
PSG also became the first team in Europe’s top leagues this season to reach 100 goals on a night they were without the injured Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, the teenager left on the bench after a bout of illness.
But a second successive last 16 exit in the Champions League means heads will roll at the end of this season in preparation for another attempt to muscle in among Europe’s elite.
“That defeat (to Real Madrid) hurt us but we continued to work with the players, the staff and the president who is always at our side,” said PSG captain Thiago Silva.
“It was a difficult moment but I think in the end it’s a good season. We have taken back our title but we must continue to work, we have a French Cup semifinal (against Caen) on Wednesday.”
Monaco arrived in Paris unbeaten on their last eight league visits to the capital but any prospect of them prolonging PSG’s wait for the title quickly eroded.