Another chapter has been written in Morocco’s lengthy history of failed World Cup bids today, when the North Africans lost out at the FIFA congress in Moscow. It was always bound to be an uphill battle for the North African nation in the face of the tripartite bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico, and clearly, despite the concerns about the logistics of the rival proposal, they didn’t do enough to poll enough votes.
Morocco’s bid, which leaned heavily on time-zone advantage for Europe and the prospect of it another for Africa, amongst other reasons, was defeated due to various factors. Having hosted the tournament in 24 years, it felt like it was again time for the CONCACAF region. Also, the World Cup would have stretched their infrastructure to its limits and so ultimately, North America’s offer of figures in the region of $11 billion as profit for FIFA may have been too tempting a proposition to be ignored.
Morocco were therefore defeated by 134 votes to 65 as the wait continues to host a maiden World Cup – and Africa’s second.