This is enough to bring balm to the hearts of Moroccans, after the terrible earthquake which left their country in mourning. “His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God help him, has the great pleasure of announcing to the Moroccan people” the co-organization of the 2030 World Cup, confirming “Morocco’s place of choice in the concert of great nations”, communicates the royal cabinet in a formula of unusual lightness. A prestigious opportunity to show off a tourist country that has everything to welcome you.
Morocco’s perseverance has finally paid off. Five times the Shereef kingdom had applied for the organization of the competition, and five times it had been rejected. The first attempt dates back to 1988, under the reign of Hassan II, for the 1994 World Cup won by the United States. His son took up the torch, equipping the country with modern stadiums. The Mohammed VI football academy, inaugurated by the king himself in 2009, has trained internationals who are beginning to prove themselves on the field.
The issues are not just sporting. If the competition must begin in Latin America, it is with Portugal and Spain that the Moroccan sovereign underlines his proximity to coordinate the event, spread for the first time on three continents and in six countries (read the references). In fact, relations have warmed considerably in recent months with the two neighbors of the Iberian Peninsula. “By establishing this trio, we link sports diplomacy to diplomacy on the Western Sahara issue,” recalls Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (Iris) and member of the National Ethics Council of the French Football Federation.
Ax Rabat-Lisbon-Madrid
Last May, on the occasion of a high-level Morocco-Portugal summit, the Prime Minister of the Portuguese Republic, António Costa, and the head of the Moroccan government, Aziz Akhannouch, sealed their football alliance at the same time as Lisbon reaffirmed its 2007 position, favorable to the Moroccan Sahara. Two months earlier, Pedro Sanchez’s Spain made a 180-degree turn by recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over its former colony, after a year of estrangement, to the great dismay of the Sahrawi separatists of the Polisario Front, supported by Algeria.
The organization of the 2030 World Cup builds on the feat of the Atlas Lions at the end of 2022 during the World Cup organized in Qatar. The national team, beaten by France, was the first African team in history to reach the semi-finals. The king did not make the trip, but we should not rely on that, underlines Abdellah Tourabi, political scientist and TV host, “he is a real fan who played and supported Casablanca when he was crown prince. During the last World Cup, he took to the streets in a car, wearing the national jersey! »
Return of the Arab world
Rabat is following in the footsteps of Qatar, and will perhaps give way to Saudi Arabia – which is investing massively in football – to win the 2034 World Cup. The case of Morocco is, however, very different. With nearly 100,000 licensees, Moroccan football “is much more rooted than in the Gulf”, notes Pascal Boniface. But Rabat cannot spend lavishly and buy clubs like Qatar with PSG and Saudi Arabia with Newcastle United.
The 2025 African Cup of Nations, the organization of which was also won by Rabat, to the detriment of Guinea incapable of hosting such an event, will serve as a dress rehearsal for the great celebration of 2030. “It will be a double opportunity to show regional, even African, stature”judge Abdellah Tourabi, who remembers the ability of the Arab world to rally behind the players of the Moroccan eleven last year. “They were supported on Egyptian television channels, and even in the Palestinian and Syrian camps. The sports results revealed a real community that others described as fiction. » A performance that King Mohammed VI would like to repeat in 2030.
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The “centenary” World Cup, three continents and six countries
For the first time in the history of the World Cup, the confederations of three continents agreed on a single candidacy for the 2030 edition, presented by Morocco, Spain and Portugal, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Cen years after the first edition in Montevideo (Uruguay), the three Latin American countries will organize three matches, while Morocco, Spain and Portugal will host the other 101 confrontations.
Fifa has launched the call for applications for the 2034 edition, limiting its invitation to the other two continents. The way seems clear for Saudi Arabia, which was already a candidate for 2030.
