Morocco enters runoff vote against North America to host 2026 World Cup

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Bids from North America and Morocco to host the 2026 World Cup have passed an inspection of their facilities and infrastructure, global soccer body FIFA said on Friday.

The joint US, Canada and Mexico bid was given an overall score of 4 out of 5 by a five-man FIFA task force, while Morocco was awarded 2.7 in a 220-page report.

A minimum score of two was required to stay in the contest.

The final decision will be made by a vote of the 207 FIFA Football Associations at the FIFA Congress on June 13, the eve of Russia’s World Cup.

Morocco /VCG Photo

The 2026 World Cup will be the first to be expanded to 48 teams, posing a severe test for the hosts. The so-called United bid plans to use 16 already existing stadiums across 16 cities in the region, and says it will help FIFA achieve new records for attendance and revenue.

Meanwhile, Morocco has proposed using 14 stadiums in 12 cities, all within a 550-kilometer radius of Casablanca, with a total investment of nearly 16 billion US dollars.

VCG Photo

Nine of the stadiums would be built from scratch and the other five would require extensive refurbishment in the North African nation. The FIFA report has warned that "the amount of new infrastructure required for the Morocco 2026 bid to become reality cannot be overstated."

Forecast revenues are 7.2 billion US dollars for a tournament in Morocco and 14.3 billion for a North American tournament, which give the latter a "strong advantage", says the report.

VCG Photo

The US hosted the finals in 1994 and bid unsuccessfully for 2022 while Mexico staged the 1970 and 1986 tournaments.

Morocco has already made four failed bids to host the World Cup.

Africa has only hosted the World Cup once before, in South Africa in 2010.

(With input from AFP and Reuters)