By Andrew Warshaw
April 24 – With precision timing given the growing geo-political tension between FIFA and UEFA, the head of African football has urged Europe to back Morocco’s bid to stage the 2026 World Cup.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 23 – Just days after FIFA’s 2026 World Cup evaluation panel completed its inspection visits to the two candidates, fresh claims have emerged of unfair treatment towards Morocco that threaten to undermine the all-important vote in June.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 17 – Morocco’s bid to stage the 2026 World Cup has reached its most crucial phase to date with the arrival of FIFA’s evaluation panel for a three-day visit that could make or break the north African country’s chances.
April 17 – South Africa has announced it is supporting Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid, a potentially crucial move that could affect what many experts have predicted will be a split in how the Continent votes in June.
By Paul Nicholson
April 14 – South American confederation CONMEBOL has pledged the votes of its 10 member associations to the United 2026 bid (Canada, Mexico and the US). Their announcement gives the North Americans a timely boost with FIFA’s 2026 bid evaluation committee having just completed their four-city tour of North America, and now heading to bid rival Morocco.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 12 – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has added his voice to growing discontent over the criteria for selecting the 2026 World Cup hosts.
April 10 – FIFA’s 2026 bid inspection team have moved on from Mexico City to Atlanta in the US for the second leg of their three-country, four-stop evaluation tour.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 9 – The next crucial stage in the race to stage the 2026 World Cup gets under way today when FIFA begins the all-important process of evaluating the respective bids of USA-Canada-Mexico and Morocco by sending its panel of technical experts into the respective regions.
By Andrew Warshaw
April 4 – Morocco’s claim of unfair treatment by FIFA in the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup has been strongly rejected by football’s world governing body which has moved swiftly into face-saving overdrive in an effort to maintain credibility.
April 4 – Dominica has become the second CONCACAF nation after St Lucia to come out and confirm it is backing Morocco for the 2026 World Cup despite being part of the same confederation as the rival United 2026 bid.
April 4 – With Qatar having already stated it is supporting Morocco for the 2026 World Cup, Saudi Arabia has said that it is going the other way as the race to clinch Asian backing hots up.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – Gianni Infantino’s insistence that the voting process to choose the 2026 World Cup hosts will be scrupulously fair and clean has come under grave scrutiny amid suspicions of underhand tactics by FIFA over the scoring system being used to assess the two contenders.
April 3 – The first signs that CONCACAF may not vote as a bloc in favour of the three-nation US-Canada-mexico 2026 World Cup bid have emerged after St Lucia became the first country in the region to announce publicly that it would be backing underdogs Morocco.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 29 – As the two contenders to stage the 2026 World Cup await the all-important inspection visit from FIFA’s evaluation team next month, clear evidence has emerged that Europe will be split when the actual vote takes place on June 13.
By Andrew Warshaw in Casablanca
March 28 – The chairman of Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid has issued a firm challenge to FIFA president Gianni Infantino to play fair and remain neutral when the first open vote in the modern era to select the hosts takes place in June.