South Africa shamed as it refuses to vote for Morocco's hosting of 2026 World Cup

Published on: 13 June 2018
South Africa shamed as it refuses to vote for Morocco's hosting of 2026 World Cup
South Africa FA President Danny Jordaan

South African stood disgraced on Wednesday as the country that received the overwhelming support of African countries when they won the right to host the 2010 World Cup, refused to vote for Morocco to host the 2026 World Cup.

The Danny Jordaan led South Africa Football Association (SAFA) delivered what appears to be the slap in the face of the rest of the continent as CAF was counting on the total support of Africa for the World Cup to come to the continent again.

But South Africa, the country that got the support of the continent, turned its back on the support they got from Africa by snubbing Morocco to give the USA the chance.

They are among ten African countries that did not vote for Morocco.

In a long-anticipated vote on Wednesday, the joint bid of the U.S., Mexico and Canada defeated Morocco, its only challenger, as more than 200 national soccer federations cast their ballots to cap FIFA's annual Congress.

The three-nation bid captured 134 votes with Morocco earning 65.

"This is an incredible, and incredibly important, moment for soccer in North America and beyond," said Carlos Cordeiro, the president of U.S. Soccer.

Figuring Morocco was likely to get most of the support in Africa, the North American bid focused on shoring up the Western Hemisphere and then targeted federations in Asia and Europe to push it over the top.

Morocco was always the outsider to win but any chances of success were hit hard by FIFA's evaluation report, published on June 1, which heavily favored the United Bid.

The United States, Canada and Mexico scored 402 out of a possible 500, while Morocco received only 275, largely due to lack of infrastructure, and factored in Moroccan officials' admission that almost $16 billion was required for the necessary development across the country.

The same FIFA report also confirmed Morocco did not disclose its anti-LGBT laws when the respective campaigns had their human rights policies evaluated.

The 2026 tournament will feature an expanded field of 48 teams -- as opposed to recent editions having 32 -- and will mark the first time in FIFA's history that a three-nation bid has been awarded the showpiece event.

The joint bid's plans call for 60 of the 80 games to be played in the United States -- including all matches from the quarterfinals onward -- while Canada and Mexico host 10 apiece.

The final is expected to be played at MetLife Stadium, just outside New York.

The tournament will be the first World Cup in the United States since 1994, and bid organizers frequently highlighted the importance of hosting a World Cup as a way to mark and push on the ever-growing rise of the sport in the U.S.

In meetings with other federations, the United Bid did have to answer questions and address concerns about the political situation in the United States -- much of it having to do with policies regarding foreigners put in place by U.S. President Donald Trump -- but largely played to its obvious strengths: money and infrastructure.

Bringing the World Cup to North America would produce staggering revenues of $14 billion, the bid predicted, and could mean as much as $50 million more in distributions to each member nation.

Much of that, of course, comes from the well-established economy and corporate structure in the United States, which is already set up to handle all aspects of a massive event like a World Cup.

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