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 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.
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.
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.
By Andrew Warshaw in Marrakesh
March 27 – There’s no doubting Hicham El Amrani’s passion and self-belief. Or that the CEO of Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid is extremely well connected.
By Andrew Warshaw in Marrakesh
March 26 – On the day FIFA released the bid books of the two contenders to stage the 2026 World Cup, African supporters of Morocco are crying foul over what they perceive as too much power being handed to the all-important panel that will determine whether the underdogs meet the necessary criteria to take on the heavyweight favourites from North America.
March 23 – Alan Rothenburg, the man widely credited with bringing the 1994 World Cup to the United States and making such a success of it, says it is by no means a foregone conclusion that the tournament will go back to the USA – and its neighbours Mexico and Canada – in 2026.
By Andrew Warshaw
March 15 – The head of Morocco’s 2026 bid team says his country is in it to win it and is not simply a stalking horse for the favoured rival North American candidate.
March 13 – With just days to go before the two 2026 World Cup contenders have to hand in their bid books to FIFA, Moroccan officials have met with a key group of Asian nations to try and gain crucial support ahead of the vote in June.
March 6 – Now that FIFA have changed the rules on what the two bidders for the 2026 World Cup can and can’t do to promote their credentials, Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) President Fouzi Lekjaa has wasted no time rallying support from within his own confederation.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 28 – Morocco looks to be closing the gap on its United States-led rival in the race to land the 2026 World Cup with the outcome in June by no means as clearcut as a few weeks ago, according to an ESPN report.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 20 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino insists the world governing body was simply applying the rules when banning Morocco from promoting the country’s 2026 World Cup bid credentials before its own African supporters.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 19 – The race to land the 2026 World Cup has exploded into fresh controversy with FIFA facing accusations of double standards and underhand tactics despite its efforts, in public at least, to ensure a squeeky clean bidding process ahead of the June vote.
By Andrew Warshaw
February 7 – FIFA’s obsessive attempt to ensure the 2026 World Cup bid process is fair and clean has blown up in its face following the revelation that Morocco was gagged from making a presentation to its own African region last week.