Morocco confident it will organize an excellent 2010 World Cup
Publication date : 08/05/2004
Morocco remains confident it will organize an “excellent” World Cup in 2010, despite the recently released technical report of the world’s football governing body “Fifa” ranking Morocco behind main rival South Africa and also Egypt.
In “comments” posted Thursday evening, “Morocco 2010”, the official website of the bidding committee, said the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and Morocco 2010 have contacted members of the Fifa Executive Committee to give their detailed reaction to various points raised in that report.
Morocco 2010 said it was “delighted that the inspectors felt that “Africa is prepared to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup” and that Morocco could organize a “very good World Cup.” It also “applauded the inspection Group’s hard work and Fifa’s transparency.”
The 94-page technical evaluation report on the bidding countries, compiled by the inspectors of the world football governing body who visited Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia between September and January, described South Africa's bid as "excellent" with those of north African rivals Egypt and Morocco termed "very good".
Morocco was criticized for the poor involvement of its football federation in the bid and a lack of infrastructure but commended for the excellent promotion and presentation of its bid and the level of government backing.
In its “comments”, Morocco 2010 insisted on two outstanding elements of Morocco’s bid: “finance, and safety and security”.
As far as finance is concerned, it highlighted the “no-risk financial strategy” that Morocco 2010 has put in place. “Funds are already invested in a Swiss escrow account to begin organizing the World Cup and the budget reflects a conservative, sound approach to the financing of the event.”
Regarding safety and security, it said: “safety will not constitute a problem to the Fifa family and spectators” (anywhere in the country, not only “within certain boundaries&rdquo
. “Morocco, it went on, prides itself as a country with an outstanding record – it has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and there has been no incident of fan violence or mass injury at a football match in Morocco.
”Morocco 2010 reaction came just few hours after statements in Kuala Lampur by the president of Morocco’s bid committee who lashed out at Fifa’s technical report saying it its “ riddled with discrepancies.”
Saad Kettani said he was disappointed at several conclusions reached in the report. “I can say we’re a bit angry because there are many discrepancies in the report.”
He urged Fifa executive committee members to “read the factual part of the report and ignore the subjective conclusions at the end. I’m confident that Morocco can host an absolutely fantastic World Cup.”
Kettani said the bare facts of the evaluation report show that Morocco fulfils all Fifa requirements when it comes to stadiums, finance, health, security, government support and enthusiasm for the tournament.
However, he said the conclusions reached by the five-man inspection team led by Belgian Jan Peeters failed to tally with the factual evidence. “If you look at facts only, it’s clear that we have the best bid,” said Kettani. “We’re the only candidate that fulfils all Fifa requirements. I can’t believe that this has not come out in the conclusions.” Kettani said the report concluded that Morocco was lacking in stadiums though the facts show it has three completed stadiums, it has three under construction and another three are to be built should it win the bid.
“How can they say we’re lacking when we’re already ahead of the other countries?” asked a furious Kettani. “When Japan and Korea first bid for the World Cup they did not have any stadiums ready.”
The bid chief said is also unhappy with the report’s comments that Morocco would not leave a post-World Cup a legacy as well as suggestions that Moroccans lacked enthusiasm for football.
“They talk about South Africa and how symbolic it is 10 years after apartheid. “Yes, that is good. But they fail to talk about how we see the 2010 World Cup not as a Moroccan World Cup but as an African World Cup.
“The fact that we will set up a fund to help Africa in health, education and fight poverty I think is a good legacy.
Representatives from Morocco, South Africa and Egypt are in Kuala Lumpur to present their bids to the Asian Football Confederation’s executive committee on Friday.
Asia has three votes on the Fifa Executive. The winning candidate will be announced in Zurich on 15 May following a final Fifa executive meeting on the issue.