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World Cup 2030 | The Government blesses the inclusion of Morocco in the World Cup bid

First was the candidacy of spainPortugal and Morocco. Later, the African country fell out of the equation. Later still, Ukraine was included after the invasion of Russia. And now Morocco is back in the equation and Ukraine will almost certainly fall out of it. all this, with the knowledge and approval of the Government of Pedro Sáncheznow open to organizing the 2030 World Cup together with its neighbor to the south.

The Minister of Education and Sports of the Alaouite kingdom, Chakib Benmoussa, read this Tuesday a letter signed by King Mohamed VI, in which he announced that Morocco joined the candidacy of Portugal and Spainnot to mention Ukraine, a country that was announced as the third leg of the project in October 2022.

announcement soon

Sources familiar with the negotiations confirm to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, from the Prensa Ibérica group, that the negotiations are “very advanced” and that Morocco will be the third country in the candidacy, but that there are still fringes to close and that the official announcement will take place shortly, perhaps this Wednesday, if nothing goes wrong. This week, delegations from the three federations are present in Rwanda for the FIFA congress and the final agreement is expected there.

King Mohamed VI of Morocco. ARCHIVE


The RFEF have always highlighted that both federations have gone hand in hand with their respective governments in the formation of the candidacy, although the initiative and impulse correspond to the federations. It has been like that in this case as well. with the Government of Pedro Sánchez aware of the negotiations with Moroccan football and, finally, giving its approval to the inclusion of Morocco in the candidacy.

“If they were sending 10,000 immigrants to the border, the Government would not have given the go-ahead,” say outside the RFEF, sources familiar with the process, stressing that the improvement in bilateral relations between the two executives since 2021 has facilitated the inclusion from Morocco.

And Ukraine?

Does Morocco replace Ukraine? Not necessarily. From the RFEF they emphasize that Ukraine is not excluded from the candidacy, although its continuity is up in the air due to the political interference of the Zelenski government in the federation and the judicial problems that surround it. Regardless of the war situation, of course. These same sources assure, in any case, that the idea right now is to keep one or two offices on Ukrainian soil.

This is the candidacy of Spain, Portugal and Ukraine for the 2030 World Cup. RFEF


The presence of Morocco in this candidacy is not new. In fact, on November 19, 2018, Pedro Sánchez publicly proposed to Morocco to participate in a project together with Spain to organize the World Cup, when the union of forces with Portugal was not yet official, but it was already on the table.

The idea, however, was declining, while diplomatic tensions between Spain and Morocco increased. The Spanish and Portuguese federations, with the support of their respective governments and also of UEFA, focused on shaping an Iberian candidacy, which was officially announced in October 2020.

UEFA boost

The fact that the United Kingdom and Ireland gave up presenting their own candidacy, opting to organize the 2028 Euro Cup, reinforced the Iberian candidacy, since it had the commitment of UEFA to receive the unanimous support of European football against other possible candidacies.

The presidents Aleksandr Ceferin (UEFA), Luis Rubiales (RFEF) and Gianni Infantino (FIFA) is a file image. EFE


The biggest threat right now is the South American proposal to host the World Cup in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguaywhich was the venue for the first edition, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2030. Although they are considered favorites in the RFEF environment, no vote is negligible and the inclusion of Morocco can also help to add votes from the African confederation , especially from the Maghreb region.

In the same way, sources familiar with these processes consider that the active entry of Morocco may help to deactivate an alleged joint candidacy of Egypt and Saudi Arabiawhich sounds a lot in football gossip (with Greece as a hypothetical third leg), but of which there is no official record so far.

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