The Kingdom of Morocco has decided to join Portugal-Spain’s bid for hosting the 2030 World Cup finals following the Atlas Lions historic performance in FIFA World Cup 2022 held in Qatar.
The announcement was made by King Mohammed VI in a message read by minister of national education and Sports, Chakib Benmoussa during a ceremony held Tuesday in Kigali (Rwanda) to honour the Monarch and Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame with Outstanding Achievement Award of the President of African Football Confederation (CAF).
“The Kingdom of Morocco has decided, together with Spain and Portugal, to present a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup”, said the Monarch in his message.
“This joint bid, which is unprecedented in football history, will bring together Africa and Europe, the northern and southern Mediterranean, and the African, Arab and Euro-Mediterranean worlds”, said the Royal message.
“It will also bring out the best in all of us – in effect, a combination of genius, creativity, experience, and resources”, underlined the Royal message.
Morocco’s Atlas Lions gained worldwide respect in Qatar’s World cup tournament after eliminating Spain and then Portugal in knockout games to be the first African and Arab team to advance to a World Cup semifinals.
Few days ago, press reports said the Spanish and Portuguese Football Associations were considering the replacement of Ukraine by the North African Kingdom in their joint bidding, building on Morocco’s success.
The proximity between Spain and Morocco makes the partnership more practical as only eight miles separates the two countries at the nearest point. There are 1,000 miles between Ukraine and Spain while Portugal is even further.
A Morocco-Spain- Portugal bid is likely to face competition from two more group bids: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece, as well as a joint South American proposal involving Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.