Morocco launches World Cup campaign to rival North American bid

Morocco's campaign to host the 2026 World Cup began at a launch in Casablanca on Tuesday.

The African nation's bid will be the sole rival of a shared proposal from the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

"Morocco 2026 will showcase the best of football, at the heart of the world," bid chairman Moulay Hafid Elalamy promised the gathered media, according to BBC Sport.

FIFA will decide who stages the showpiece on June 13, the eve of the World Cup in Russia. Morocco kicks off its first World Cup campaign in 20 years two days after the result in St. Petersburg. Potential host cities were not disclosed at the launch.

"We promise to stage a tournament overflowing with real passion and to celebrate the values of unity and peace," Elalamy continued.

"A World Cup in Morocco will deliver commercial success and leave a long-lasting legacy and if we win the honour of hosting we believe the winners will be football, the young people of our nation, Africa, and the world."

Fouzi Lekjaa, the head of Morocco's football federation, said "a committed, experienced team" had been assembled to ensure a convincing bid can be put together in just five months.

Luminaries from the current Morocco squad include Medhi Benatia, Sofiane Boufal, Nordin Amrabat, and emerging Real Madrid youngster Achraf Hakimi. Assisting manager Herve Renard is Mustapha Hadji, the former Coventry City and Aston Villa midfielder who scored a stunning individual effort against Norway in the 1998 finals.

If Morocco is rewarded with the 2026 edition of the World Cup, the finals that follow could be a huge celebration for a country competing in its fifth tournament.

"After Islam, football is our second religion. Morocco loves the game and is a real football country," Hadji told the Guardian's Ed Aarons days before a 2-0 defeat of Ivory Coast punched the Atlas Lions' ticket to Russia.

He added: "The Moroccan people have been waiting for this for a long time - rich people, poor people, the guy on top of a mountain with his sheep."