Morocco’s bid to host the 2026 World Cup has passed a Fifa inspection – but is deemed “high risk” in three areas.<\/p>\n
The North African country will compete with a joint United States, Canada and Mexico bid in a vote on 13 June.<\/p>\n
Morocco scored 2.7 out of five in Fifa’s test while the joint bid scored four, with no “high risk” areas.<\/p>\n
Fifa said of the 14 stadiums submitted by Morocco, nine were yet to be built and the remaining five “require significant renovation or upgrading”.<\/p>\n
Only two of the 14 stadiums were deemed to have “sufficient levels of accommodation” resulting in a second “high risk” conclusion.<\/p>\n
A third area of analysis – accommodation and transport combined – was also deemed “high risk”.<\/p>\n
However, Fifa’s taskforce said it had obtained “enforceable government guarantees” which state the 12 host cities in Morocco will have a sufficient number of hotel rooms by 2026.<\/p>\n
The North American bid did not contain any high risk elements but had three medium risk measures – government support, human rights and labour standards, and organising costs.<\/p>\n
In analysing the human rights aspect of the bid, it was concluded new entry regulations being proposed by the US could damage “discrimination-free entry” to the country.<\/p>\n
World football’s governing body could have disqualified Morocco had the bid scored less than two overall.<\/p>\n
Both candidates now have to be approved at a meeting on 10 June before a vote of the 207 Fifa members three days later.<\/p>\n
Morocco has said it needs to spend almost $16bn (\u00a312bn) on infrastructure for what will be the first 48-team World Cup, while the North American bid does not require any tournament-specific building work.<\/p>\n
Morocco has unsuccessfully bid four times before, in 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010, the latter occasion being when South Africa became the first African nation to host the World Cup.<\/p>\n
The United States hosted the tournament in 1994 and bid unsuccessfully for 2022, while Mexico staged the 1970 and 1986 tournaments.<\/p>\n
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