(ATR) Morocco has praised FIFA’s last-minute meeting held this Wednesday with the two candidates to host the 2026 World Cup.
Along with the Moroccans, representatives from their rival United North American bid were also present at the football’s body headquarters in Zurich.
"It was a very constructive meeting, a very positive meeting," Hicham El Amrani, the CEO of the Morocco bid, told Reuters. "We gave them the extra information they were looking for and we look forward to the publication of the report." Unlike the Moroccans, neither FIFA nor the North American bid had any comment on the meeting ahead of the expected publication of a report which could disqualify one of the two candidacies.
Under FIFA’s new bidding rules, the body’s inspection team has the power to exclude a bid if it does not meet minimum technical standards on infrastructural and organizational conditions.
Last month a five-man FIFA task force inspected both bids on the ground for its upcoming conclusions where each candidacy is to receive a score from six different aspects of their bid: stadiums, team facilities, accommodation, transport, telecommunications and locations for events including fan festivals.
A bid must achieve a minimum overall score of two out of five to be included in the ballot set for June 13 in Moscow where 207 FIFA federations are expected to select in an open vote the 2026 World Cup host.
In addition to the overall score, each candidacy has to receive a score of at least two in the categories for stadiums, team facilities and transport/accommodation to qualify for the vote.
The new evaluation system was introduced after previous World Cup hosting campaigns when voters overlooked the technical qualities of the bids and based their votes on political and personal favors.
According to some reports, FIFA’s evaluation task force should give its conclusions to the body’s council when it meets on June 10 and determines whether both Morocco and the United USA-Mexico-Canada bids have qualified to enter the ballot.
Homepage photo: FIFA
Written by Javier Monne
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