Potential 2026 WC Hosts (Update: Morocco Sole Challenger to CONCACAF Bid)

If FIFA really wants it, they can well decide on the host before the voting itself.

There is certain thing called "evaluation check" and FIFA will perform this on both hosts between 16. March and 12. June. FIFA Council will then decide whether one or both bids meet the criteria to be recommended for a decision by the full FIFA Congress on 13th of June in Moscow.

 

44 U.S. senators (26 Ds, 17 Rs, 1 Ind) sign letter to @realDonaldTrump urging him to support @united2026 World Cup bid (USA, MEX, CAN). Government guarantees on visa-free travel plus work permit and tax exemptions are necessary.https://t.co/AWQhJr2vBn

— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) February 21, 2018

 

United 2026 isn't fooling anyone. It's being viewed as a United States bid and not as a North American bid. Time to let go of the greed and split the games more evenly or we could lose it all.

According to sources, Morocco's bid to host the 2026 World Cup is gaining ground on the U.S.-led contingent. @SamBorden https://t.co/qg3CcQr9Vf

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 28, 2018

 

If other countries choose not to vote for the US to cohost World Cup ‘26 because its leader is a symbol of intolerance, then that makes perfect sense https://t.co/zJ9w1LDeZE pic.twitter.com/xGjMrow1hr

— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) February 28, 2018

 

Fake News.

 

ESPN reports "an anti-American sentiment that stems largely from actions taken by President Donald Trump's administration” is imperiling the 2026 World Cup bid, now neck-and-neck with Morocco https://t.co/1xnQHHv6t0

— Daniel Victor (@bydanielvictor) February 28, 2018

 

No real surprise here. Most voters don't care about technical aspects and don't expect to be at a world cup anyways. It will be up to FIFA to give the technical committee (or whatever it's called) enough power to actually block a bad bid.

 

As long as Morocco pass the minimum requirements, they are in and all 211 members votes individually. Lots of them have little reason to support the US...#Shithole comment #Muslim Ban...just to say those

 

Seriously? Do you even know me?

Many Qatar supporters way back brushed away too many concerns as racism. Yes, there were plenty of racist arguments but even then there were too many technical concerns. Morocco's bid is not quite at that level but it is concerning.

The issue here is that Morocco's bid is reaching the minimum levels for a 32 country WC. Consider Qatar that promised 12 air conditioned stadiums and is just not delivering. Consider Brazil having so many issues delivering their stadiums. There are serious and reasonable concerns about Morocco's ability to deliver and FIFA can't afford a second fiasco right after Qatar.

 

@HomietheClown Fake news is becoming one of my trigger phrases. Fake news - I don't like the facts!

Having said that, after reading the story, the headline deserves some nuance. Delegates can talk about disappointment with the USA, but when it comes down to brass tax- the actual voting- reality will set in. North America has advantages with infrastructure.

The article was interesting in that it reminded me that the voting and system change is different and it is uncertain what the effect will be. This time, instead of an executive committee of a handful of members (22?) voting anonymously, it will be every country (200+ members?) voting and the votes are public. As the article points out, if blocks hold, such as Africa, they will have some power.

It is a reminder that the vote isn't for certain until it happens. I don't know how I feel but every country getting a vote, but I do think the public disclosure of votes is a good thing.

For the record, I am not rooting one way of the other. It'd be nice to host the WC in my own country (USA), but traveling to Morocco, while expensive, could be a lot of fun as well.

 

When Russia got the World Cup despite it's stance on sexual orientation and gender identity and the disabled many people were outraged. But FIFA did not want to get political.

When Qatar got the World Cup despite it's stance on sexual orientation and gender identity, forced labor, human trafficking many people were outraged, But FIFA didn't want to get political.

Now that the US bid, who by coincidence exposed and prosecuted corrupt FIFA officials, is being frowned on for political reasons I believe FIFA has finally decided to get into the "Political Arena". But purely because of political reasons, surely.

Welcome to the political stage FIFA!

 

Publicized voting this time around actually hurts the US--how many countries outside CONCACAF will want to go on the record as giving the US the World Cup just so Trump can tweet about his winning the bid?

If Morocco passes the viability threshold, I'd be surprised if the vote is even that close.

 

Getting away from all the political stances and nationalism there are real concerns for FIFA with Morocco's bid. It really has less to do with Morocco than it has to do with Qatar, the corruption scandal and the rise of Champion's League and UEFA.

First off, FIFA's largest concern is keeping (and growing) the World Cup as the premier sporting event in the world. Their biggest challenge is that the majority of the players for this event are employees of big UEFA clubs. This was not always the case. Just thirty years ago the best players were typically all around the globe in their countries of origin. So FIFA is in a relatively new situation were they have a competitor in the Premier League, La Liga and the Champion's League. People from around the globe can see the same players and the level of play is unarguably better. Even worse, those clubs pay the players and when the World Cup rolls around they are concerned that the majority of their players will be distracted, injured or tired. FIFA's main draw is really the prestige and history of the tournament. If that is lost then sponsors, players and fans will become disenchanted and little by little the World Cup will become a shadow of itself.

If prestige is FIFA's main draw then the last five years have been disastrous for them. The Qatar bid and following corruption inquiry may or may not be linked but regardless they have been a one-two punch combo for FIFA. Sponsors have raised concerns and even left. Their coffers have been severely depleted. This is quite literally the most critical period in FIFA's history. What FIFA does to recapture prestige and trust can determine if the World Cup will recover or if this is the start of a slow but inevitable decline. Even if it is clean, a winning Morocco bid will have too many parallels to the Qatar bid for this to go down well. The lesser bid in every possible sport related aspect would have won. In addition it will become the second World Cup in a row in the region. An electorate that is swayed by non-sport related sentiment to trump actual hosting requirements will not show that FIFA is maturing and self governing itself well.

A secondary aspect is that FIFA will be helped a fair bit by having a competitor to UEFA. There is no secret to the fact that the US bidders are planning on using 2026 as a way of increasing interest in the local league. This is of some interest to FIFA. In the long term at least, a stronger MLS and Liga MX (or for that matter, Copa Libertadores and J League) will mean that all elite players will no longer be only at UEFA. UEFA loses some of it's leverage but by no means all. In addition, the Club World Cup could gain traction.

Anyhoo, a lot of concerns here even from a neutral point of view.

 

I suspect a lot of people took the bribe and voted for Qatar thinking "they're not going to win and I can always deny it". If that is the case, public disclosure would help the North American bid. But I am only speculating.

 

I seriously doubt that Trump will make a big deal about it, assuming he's even still in Office at the time of the announcement. His tweets are a non-factor in how people will vote, imo.

 

FIFA in line to get over $300 million in bonuses if 2026 World Cup hits North America


http://awfulannouncing.com/fox/fifa...onuses-2026-world-cup-hits-north-america.html

 

LOL. Actually that makes me feel better. I know exactly what is happening now. All these rumors are actually a request for sharing the wealth. 300 million divided by 211 countries is still quite a bit of money. Things will get back in to line very, very soon I think.

 

Yup.
All this talk about politics and technical minimum standards to me is just all funny and great for the media to blab about but ancillary arguments and issues should be prioritized

When it comes to down the nitty-gritty FIFA loves money.

 

Sepp Blatter

Joseph S Blatter‏ @SeppBlatter Feb 22
World Cup 2026: Co-Hosting rejected by FIFA after 2002 (also applied in 2010 and 2018). And now: Morocco would be the logical host! And it is time for Africa again! #Fifa #CAF #@FIFAWorldCup

 

Agree, accept they loved money when Qatar was chosen over the USA for 2022. Bags of cash to indivuals can be a factor too. What helps is everyone voting, not just exec committee of 22. 202 countries or whatever is too many bags of cash.

 

Reaction from Alexi Lalas

 

This is mildly problematic for Morocco. On the one hand Blatter still has some influence but mostly he is the face of FIFA corruption and his opinion is obviously dismissed as prejudiced against the US.

 

All I am hearing is money, money, money...
Sounds like the 2022 US bid.

 

Found this. I think it's from the official moroccan bid book.

 

good stuff, thanks for posting. From my purely personal point of view, I wouldn't mind a Morocco World Cup at all; in fact I'd prefer it. A huge part of what I like about the World Cup experience is the tourism aspect, and getting to see a new country and meeting their people. I've traveled a lot but never to Africa and Morocco looks really interesting, plus is really close to a lot of other interesting places.

Living in the US, a US/Mexico/Canada World Cup would be convenient and maybe less expensive, but to me far less fun and interesting. I've been to every US host city and to Canada and Mexico countless times. Outside of the matches, it wouldn't be new at all and not as exciting.

As I'm getting older I only have so many World Cups left that I'll be able to travel to and get around easily. If Morocco gets 2026 then maybe the US will get 2034 or even 2038 when I won't be able to do these crazy multi-city trips with matches every other day.

All that being said, I think the profit motive will win out. There's looks to be a lot more money to be made with the US/MEX/CAN bid and I think the pressure to make that money will push that bid past Morocco's in the end.