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Morocco is confident of staging the 2026 World Cup if the North African country is awarded the right to do so in the World Cup vote on June 13.
Hicham El Amrani, the Chief Executive Officer of Morocco's 2026 Bid Committee, said that the size and location will be two advantages that Morocco enjoys over the joint bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"Our strength is our positioning, our location, " El Amrani said. "The World Cup is going to have 16 nations from Europe and nine from Africa that are within the same time-zone."
Although Morocco's infrastructure is incomparable with those from the three North American countries, El Amrani said that with the Moroccan government fully behind the bid, they can have all the stadiums, transportation and other facilities ready in eight years time.
"If the World Cup is to be held tomorrow, we could not host the tournament," El Amrani said.
"But we have laid out plans in the bid book to provide 14 stadiums for the World Cup across 12 cities, with the center-point being an updated 93,000-capacity Grand Stade in Casablanca, which would host the World Cup final."
El Amrani, who was the Secretary General of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from 2011-2017, also assured the world that the World Cup will be held in Morocco without worry of security.
"This is one of the strong points of Morocco," he said. "Morocco is lucky to have one of the best security apparatus around the world."
The 2026 event will the first with an expanded 48-team field, and the first where the 211 FIFA member associations will have one vote each - excluding the four bidding members - to select the World Cup hosts instead of only the FIFA executive voting.
Morocco will need to win 104 votes when the decision is made one day before the start of the World Cup in Russia. Considering CAF will have 53 votes and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which is also expected to support Morocco's bid, has 47 members, Morocco can have nearly half of all available votes between them.
Other French-speaking countries and regions, like France and Belgium, and some Mediterranean nations, have also claimed that they will stand behind their African neighbor. "We are confident," El Amrani said. "We are here to win."
"It is the fifth time for us to bid to host the World Cup and we are so ready because we are so passionate about the game. We are so passionate about working with the people of the whole world. We are convinced about the power of football to transform people's lives."
The 2026 World Cup will give the Chinese national team a realistic chance to qualify for the first time since 2002 and El Amrani says Morocco will welcome China and Chinese fans with open arms.
"I wish the national team qualifies for the World Cup in 2026. But even if they don't qualify, we also invite them to visit beautiful Morocco, just like more and more Moroccans are going to China to discover your big country. We are always ready to welcome them with open arms with or without the World Cup," El Amrani said.
El Amrani, who worked as the AFC Marketing Manager for eight years, talked to Chinese Football Association vice president Zhang Jian about their bid and hoped that China will support Morocco.
He said Morocco's bid will also provide more chances for Chinese businesses, who have invested big in Africa in the last 20 years.
"For me, it is not a job to work for the bid, it is a privilege, an honor to get involved because you feel the pressure of an entire country and continent supporting you and pushing you. But it also gives me a lot of happiness. Hopefully we can succeed."
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
