About the Almountakhab Moroccan newspaper- written by Badr Al-Din Al-Idrissi
The Spanish newspaper “Marca” took advantage of a meeting between Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, and Florentino Pérez, President of the Spanish club Real Madrid, to strive to convey information that has not been confirmed yet, and in fact the chances of it being achieved in the near future are very slim, if not non-existent.
The information says that the meeting discussed hosting the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, the castle of the Real Madrid club, which was recently renovated, for the final match of the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco is co-organising with Spain and Portugal. The newspaper concluded that matters have been settled, and that the Real Stadium is the one that will have the honor. Hosting the final match of the 2030 World Cup, which will announce the new world champion, while the matter is limited to the fact that the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which is in the possession of Real Madrid, and represents for the Royal Club a source of income, as it is a theater for Real Madrid’s matches and for many artistic and cultural events, is one of the stadiums nominated to host the World Cup. 2030, and FIFA needs Real Madrid to have a mandate to exploit the stadium, like all World Cup stadiums, within a period of up to 3 months, before and during the 2030 World Cup finals.
We should not have been completely led by this media effort, from the newspaper “Marca”, which is loyal to Real Madrid, and which never stops asserting that the 2030 World Cup final will be held in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium, which has become one of the icons of international stadiums after the updates that were made to it, because simply The final stadium has not been decided upon by the Mixed, Moroccan, Spanish and Portuguese Committee, nor by any of the stadiums nominated by the three countries to host the World Cup matches. This fact was confirmed by the communications issued by the Mixed Committee following meetings it held last Thursday and Friday in the city of Agadir.
The response came to what was claimed by the newspaper Marca, with the utmost assertiveness, and the joint nomination committee confirmed that no final decision has been issued yet regarding the number of stadiums, their geographical distribution, and even the number of matches that each of the three countries will host, which has the final decision in this regard, and FIFA will not interfere in the matter. The final stadium in particular, except in two cases…
The first is if the proposed stadium does not conform to the standards set by FIFA regarding the final stadium, whose controls and loads differ from other World Cup stadiums.
Secondly, if a dispute occurs between the countries participating in the organization.
Just as Spain nominates the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid to host the 2030 World Cup final, Morocco also believes that the Grand Casablanca Stadium, the construction of which has begun, and which will be the second largest stadium in the world with a capacity of up to 115,000 spectators, will be a strong candidate to host the final match. As Mr. Fawzi Lakjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and Chairman of the 2030 World Cup Organizing Committee, said, Morocco has not decided anything in this regard, and “Morocco has all the sufficient arguments to get what it wants.”
What refutes every claim that has been promoted is that the World Cup final stadium will cause a rift in the system of operation of the joint nominating committee, and may even cause destabilization in the system of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Spain, which according to the joint organization of the 2030 World Cup, has reached the highest degree of strength. The cohesion is that the committee works with complete coordination between its components in an atmosphere characterized by the spirit of responsibility. Its biggest bet is to create all the conditions for the version celebrating the centenary of the World Cup to be ideal, exemplary and historic by all standards. Therefore, the committee leaves the crucial decisions related to the World Cup to cook on a quiet fire, away from… Bidding and media efforts that aim to put pressure on decision-makers.
What is scheduled today in the tripartite nomination calendar for organizing the 2030 World Cup? The committee is close to preparing the “bid book”, which will be the end of July, the last date for submitting it to FIFA, whose experts will move towards the three countries in the third third of the current year. During field visits for inspection, the inspection reports will be published at the end of the current year, and FIFA has taken note of the seriousness of the work carried out by the tripartite leadership committee, completely away from the hotbeds of “media demonization.”
