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President of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, is accused of blocking Morocco’s way towards organizing the 2026 World Cup. Speaking to well-informed sources, the BBC stressed that «Infantino tried to prevent Morocco from reaching the final vote».
Commenting on these claims, FIFA spokesperson told the same source that the «bidding process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has been designed to evaluate the bids against objective criteria and so avoid a return to the secret and subjective decisions of the past».
Meanwhile, a senior FIFA source who requested anonymity told BBC that the task force that has recently visited Morocco was allegedly «encouraged» by Infantino to find the slightest detail that would disqualify the nation’s bid.
Based on the same source’s account, FIFA president favors the North American joint bid, which includes the United States, Canada and the USA, due to the financial benefits it would bring.
Samoura and links with El Hadji Diouf
FIFA’s impartiality has been questioned earlier this year when rumors surfaced suggesting that the body has made changes to the World Cup scoring system to disqualify the Moroccan bid. The changes brought new conditions that were hard to meet for the Kingdom.
Morocco, in fact, denounced in a letter sent by Moroccan Royal Football Federation President Fouzi Lekjaa the «undisclosed changes» added to the eligibility criteria few hours before the deadline for bid books were submitted last month.
On the other hand, Secretary General of FIFA Fatma Samoura has been reported to the organization’s powerful ethics committee for being allegedly related to a Senegalese official serving an ambassadorial role for the Moroccan bid.
Samoura is accused of «accused of alleged breaches of its ethics code relating to duty of disclosure, co-operation and reporting and conflicts of interest», sources told BBC.
In more details, the same source explains that the first female FIFA Secretary General, whose full name is Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, has extended family links with El Hadji Diouf, a Senegalese forward.
Responding to allegations, Samoura said that she has «a good idea who is conveying this message», adding that «the whole country of Senegal will laugh at FIFA Ethics... because everyone in my country knows the origin of El Hadji Diouf.»
