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The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico after receiving 134 votes. Only 65 football federations voted for Morocco.
The vote has started and only 203 football federations are present and entitled to vote according to Samoura.
After playing a video representation on the Moroccan bid, Moulay Hafid Elalamy gave the floor to the Royal Moroccan Football Federation President Fouzi Lekjaa who delivered a speech on the reasons why Morocco aims to host the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura took the floor, presenting the report conducted by the FIFA task force that visited Morocco, Canada, US, and Mexico.
The official gives details on the report that sheds light on the means presented by the two bidders and scores it achieved.
Morocco bid chairman Moulay Hafid Elalamy is currently speaking in front of the FIFA congress, touching upon the highlights of the Moroccan bid.
After Representatives from the North American bid had the change to give details about their candidacy, Elalamy is shedding light on the positive features of the Moroccan bid.
He referred to gun policy, safety, the comfortable time zone, and the infrastructure.
Representatives from the Moroccan and North American bids will have a chance to present their candidacies for 15 minutes in front of the congress. Other advocates from outside the bidding teams will be allowed to give supporting remarks.
The electronic balloting will then begin and the voting federations will have to choose from three options : The United Bid, Morocco or, None of the Bids.
Fingers are crossed today in Russia as four US territories said they will abstain from voting, says the Guardian on Tuesday. Morocco is facing a joint bid presented by the United States, Canada and Mexico in a FIFA vote for the 2026 World Cup.
Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands will abstain on Wednesday, says the same source, after FIFA said in May that they will be allowed to take part in the 2026 World Cup vote.
Morocco protested against the decision and a letter was sent to the football international governing body, referring to potential conflicts of interest.
Morocco’s bid was validated on the 1st of June by FIFA’s task force, making it to the voting phase. Scoring 2.7 out of 5, the Kingdom's performance remains weak in comparison to the North American one which scored a 4 out of 5 mark. The US-joint bid is believed to be technically safer than the Moroccan one.
Electronic means
For the first time, 201 FIFA’s member federations will vote today during the annual congress taking place now in Moscow. According to the body, voting is going to be conducted by electronic means.
«In this case, the possible votes are: 'Moroccan Football Association Bid'; 'United Bid'; or 'None of the Bids – Reopen Bidding Process'», wrote FIFA in document explaining the voting procedure for the 2026 World Cup.
«If a FIFA Congress member does not vote for any of these options, this shall be counted as an abstention», explained the same source.
Geopolitical factors
Although the North American bid has been favored by the FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the vote may bring surprises.
Including geopolitical factors, the two bids have been backed by their allies. According to a 2026 World Cup vote tracker created by the US newspaper The New York Times, only 21 voting federations, mainly from Africa, Asia and Europe, are committed to Morocco.
On the other hand, 33 federations are committed to vote for the North American bid, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Afghanistan.
24 nations are leaning toward the North American bid in comparison to only 7 preferring the Moroccan one. 122 countries are uncommitted to the two bids.
The vote can be heavily affected, however, by U.S. president Donald Trump tweets in April. «It would be a shame if countries that we always support were to lobby against the U.S. bid. Why should we be supporting these countries when they don’t support us (including at the United Nations)?», he threatened.
