Kenya ‘supports’ Morocco WC bid
Omari arrested
NAIROBI, April 18, (Agencies): Kenya has joined the ranks of African nations backing Morocco’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup, its federation chief said on Wednesday.
Morocco is hoping to become only the second African country to host the World Cup after South Africa in 2010, but faces a stiff challenge from a joint Canada-Mexico-US bid when the vote is held in Moscow at the FIFA Congress on June 13.
“Kenya will be firmly behind Morocco’s bid for the 2026 World Cup, since the whole of Africa is for Morocco,” Football Kenya Federation (FKF) chief Nick Mwendwa told a visiting delegation from Morocco, led by Nigerian former international striker Daniel Amokachi. “We have worked closely with the Moroccan Football Federation since we came into office in 2016,” said Mwendwa at a press conference in Nairobi.
The north African country has already received backing from many African countries including South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Tunisia and Ghana, while others including France, Russia and Iraq have expressed their support.
Though considered a long shot, Amokachi believes Morocco stands a chance after being unsuccessful four times in the past.
“It took our continent a hundred years to host the World Cup. Morocco is a capable country to host the tournament in 2026 since it has all the infrastructure,” said Amokachi.
FIFA Council member Constant Omari has been arrested on suspicion of corruption and was being held Wednesday in a public prosecutor’s office in his home country of Congo and questioned for alleged involvement in embezzling money.
Omari, who is also a vice president of the Confederation of African Football, was arrested on Tuesday night on the orders of Luzolo Bambi, Congo President Joseph Kabila’s special adviser on corruption.
Omari, the president of the Congo soccer federation, was arrested along with two other federation officials and a government sports ministry official. They were still being detained Wednesday and questioned at the public prosecutor’s office at a court building in Kinshasa.
The four were being questioned on suspicion of embezzlement of money given to the federation by the government to fund the Congo national team and various Congolese clubs playing in competitions across Africa, according to a statement from Bambi’s office.
UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has expressed concern over the decision to employ the video replay system (VAR) at the 2018 World Cup, saying the technology still needed more testing before it can be considered for use in the Champions League.
Global soccer body FIFA voted in March to deploy VAR at the June-July tournament in Russia, only two weeks after its use was approved by IFAB, the organisation responsible for rule changes in the sport.
“I have some fear for the World Cup, where we will have referees who have never officiated with the VAR,” Ceferin told Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview.