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Weekly highlights

World Cup 2030: Not everything is decided yet

P REPARATIONS for the
2030 World Cup are gathe-
ring pace. Morocco, Spain,
and Portugal are facing a major
challenge: this joint bid must not
be seen as the sum of three bids,
but as a single dossier, hence
the importance of coordination
between the three countries and the
multiplication of meetings on se-
veral aspects. To give substance to
this experiment, an original archi-
tecture for the organization of work
between the three players was set
up. «Together with our Spanish
and Portuguese counterparts, we
have set up a tripartite unit, known
as the FIFA Business Unit (BU),
for each of the three countries»,
explains Moad Hajji, general coor-
dinator of the Morocco BU for the
2030 World Cup bid. The BU is
made up of 5 people, including 3
members of the Royal Moroccan
Football Federation and 2 mem-
bers of the Government. Youssef be made clear: the tripartite BUs It’s true that we’re the only ones, but To get a better idea of these condi-
Belqasmi, Chairman of Sonarges deal exclusively with operational we have a duty to respect the pro- tions, Moad Hajji gives examples of
(National stadium construction matters. This architecture is sup- cesses put in place by FIFA». The accommodation requirements. For
and management company / So- ported at a higher level by the pre- tripartite bid file must be submitted a 5-star hotel, for example, each
ciété nationale de réalisation et de sidential steering committee, made to the International Federation by room must be at least 27 square
gestion des stades) and former Se- up of the presidents of the three July 31, 2024 at the latest. Once meters in size. Today, 5-star hotels
cretary General of the Ministry of countries’ soccer federations: Fou- this deadline has passed, a FIFA with rooms smaller than 27 square
National Education and Sports, is zi Lekjaâ, Pedro Rocha (Spain), Task Force made up of internatio- meters are not accepted by the In-
also involved in the operation. The and Fernando Gomes (Portugal). nal experts will travel to the site to ternational Federation. There are
same applies to the Ministry of the In practice, the BUs of the three inspect the bid documents to ensure also standards for stadium capacity,
Budget. The same applies to Spain countries meet every 15 days to dis- that they comply with the Interna- media zones, parking lots, and other
and Portugal. One thing needs to cuss all operational matters relating tional Federation’s requirements. facilities and the list of FIFA requi-
to the preparation of the bid. For These requirements represent over rements is long. And these are just
Hajji, «it is important to know that 200 pages of FIFA’s minimum re- the minimum requirements. o
Knock-out score we’re still in the bidding process. quirements for hosting a World Cup. Mohamed CHAOUI

IN preparing the bid, the Inter- Score
national Federation identified 5
chapters, divided into 17 sec- IN any case, in Morocco, BUs
tions, some of which include work on two levels. Firstly, to de-
eliminatory scores. Stadiums, velop our capacity to apply. At the
accommodation for teams and same time, we’re working on coor-
referees... these are all crucial dination, say our sources. «The
points for FIFA. «If you get a narrative we’re going to tell must
knock-out score, you can’t even not be different, but must continue
go to the vote before the FIFA across a single bid, two conti-
Congress, which will be held in nents, and three countries. It must
the 4th quarter of 2024», notes not appear as the sum of several
the Business Unit general coor- bids. It should be a single bid that
dinator. The consolation prize is similar in several respects, and
lies in the fact that for the Mo- that we arrange at each meeting»,
roccan bid for 2026 (presented said the general coordinator for the
in 2018), Morocco had not Moroccan side. «The whole point be held in the last quarter of this many votes as possible in favor of
obtained any knock-out score. of expertise is to achieve this very year. The Congress will then have the bid. In other words, we want to
And, he adds, there’s no reason important goal», says Moad Hajji. to vote on the bid. «As Fouzi Lek- get as close as possible to the 211
why it should. o The Task Force will then produce jaâ and his two counterparts, the member federations of FIFA and
an evaluation report, which will be Spanish and Portuguese presidents, obtain a very respectable score»,
submitted to the FIFA Congress to pointed out, our aim is to gather as hopes Moad Hajji. o
Friday 23 February 2024