“It is a good thing for Africa and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) that one of its members is positioning itself to organize the FIFA World Cup after the 2010 one in South Africa. Morocco has made the necessary investments over the last twenty years to meet the conditions often set by FIFA to organize this event,” Hervé Agbodan, Secretary General of the Togolese Football Federation (FTF), told MAP.
For the Secretary General of the Togolese football governing body, the Kingdom of Morocco “is adopting a better strategy by opting for a tripartite candidacy with Spain and Portugal”. “I firmly believe in Morocco. This country has learned lessons from its last unsuccessful attempts. Its participation in a three-way project seems to me to come from the same mature reflection to give itself more chance, like the joint organization of the 2026 FIFA World Cup between the United States, Canada and Mexico”, noted the same source.
The same story is heard at the level of the Association of Sports Journalists of Togo (AJST). For Kodjo Avuletey, Secretary General of the AJST, Morocco’s candidacy “is more than legitimate”.
“Morocco’s ambition is legitimate. Since 2010, the World Cup has not returned to Africa. We know that the countries on the continent that have the means to organize it can be counted on the fingers of one hand, but for such events, we are never ready until we experience it. As a result, it is a good thing for African football fans. A World Cup in Morocco is a godsend for them. Some countries like Togo, which have special diplomatic agreements with Morocco, will be able to attend without too much difficulty. It is exciting,” he told MAP.
Regarding the chances of the Kingdom of Morocco to finally organize a World Cup in 2030 after the failures of 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2026, the Togolese sports journalist believes that Morocco “has great reasons to hope”. “The ticket with Spain and Portugal is an asset. However, it is obvious that Morocco now has the necessary infrastructure for such an organization. Marrakech has almost become the African capital of football and from Kenitra to Tangier via Casablanca, Rabat, Berkane and others, Morocco has put in place what is needed for this. We can only wish it good luck,” added the new member of the executive board of the International Sports Press Association Africa zone (AIPS-Africa).
“Morocco has been in good shape for several years, as evidenced by its brilliant performance at the last 2022 World Cup in Qatar where the Atlas Lions reached the semi-finals of the competition for the first time in the history of African football. On this basis, hosting the 2030 World Cup on Moroccan soil would only be in the normal order of things,” said Samuel Ekoe Gale, former coach of a first division club in Togo, AS OTR.
For now, the Mediterranean trio must face competition from the South American candidacy composed of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. Another candidacy composed of Saudi Arabia, Greece and Egypt could be made official in the coming days.
FIFA is expected to announce the final verdict sometime in 2024.
2024-08-20 09:57:30