Morocco, Spain and Portugal submit bid to host FIFA World Cup 2030

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Written by northsouth

Category: Sport

Published: 15 March 2023

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RABAT/MADRID/LISBON - Morocco will officially join Spain and Portugal's bid to host the FIFA 2030 World Cup in the first European-African bid in football history, announced Morocco's Sports Minister at the CAF President Outstanding Achievement Awards Ceremony.

"This joint bid, unprecedented in football history, will bring together Africa and Europe, the northern and southern Mediterranean, and the African, Arab and Euro-Mediterranean worlds," read Morocco's Sports Minister Chakib Benmoussa a message from King Mohammed VI on Tuesday.

This bid marks Morocco's sixth attempt to host the competition. The North African kingdom submitted a bid every time since it became eligible in 1994.

Morocco committed to participate in the 2030 bid more than four years ago, immediately after losing the vote for the 2026 tournament.

Rabat was reportedly in talks with the Iberian nations for a while but had never been officially included in the bid.

The Spanish-Moroccan political reconciliation last year reportedly played a key role in easing the talks.

Last October, Ukraine said it would team up with Spain and Portugal in a joint bid, but Morocco's announcement suggests it will no longer be part of the process.

A spokesman for the Spanish football federation told AFP news agency it will meet its Portuguese and Moroccan counterparts in Kigali on Wednesday but made no mention of Ukraine.

Reports say an alleged corruption scandal involving the Ukrainian football federation might be behind Kyiv's dropping out of the bid.

Morocco's announcement comes on the heels of its historic performance at the 2022 World Cup.

The Atlas Lions defeated Spain and Portugal in the knockout stages in Qatar on their way to becoming the first African and Arab country to ever reach a World Cup semifinal.

Rabat is expected to capitalise on its experience in hosting FIFA's Club World Cup this year and also on the Moroccan fans' ear-splitting energy that stunned the world in Qatar's tournament.

The joint bid also alleviates some concerns regarding logistical and hosting capabilities with the recently increased team count. FIFA announced that the number of teams competing for the trophy will increase from 32 to 48 starting from the 2026 World Cup.

The bid faces heavy competition, especially as Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay have prepared their joint bid, capitalising on the fact that the 2030 edition will mark the tournament's 100th anniversary. Uruguay hosted the first-ever World Cup in 1930.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece are also reportedly preparing a bid of their own.

The 2030 World Cup hosts are expected to be picked in September 2024. The co-hosting bids from South America and Europe have been the expected favourites.

Cristiano Ronaldo Saudi move confirmed: CR7 signs for Al Nassr

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Written by northsouth

Category: Sport

Published: 31 December 2022

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RIYADH - Cristiano Ronaldo is going to continue his professional career in Saudi Arabia.

Ronaldo’s long-rumoured deal with Saudi Arabia side Al-Nassr is now official. Ronaldo has been a free agent since he parted ways with Manchester United in the days before the World Cup.

Ronaldo disparaged the club in a television interview where he said the he didn’t have any respect for current Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag. That interview made it clear that it was untenable for Ronaldo to stay at United, yet no other major European clubs raced to sign him after he became a free agent.

Ronaldo is, by far, the highest-profile player to play club soccer in the Middle East and that comes with a hefty payday. According to soccer news breaker Fabrizio Romano, Ronaldo will make in the neighborhood of $213 million a year including endorsement deals.

The 37-year-old started up front for Portugal at the start of the 2022 World Cup but was benched for the team’s Round of 16 game against Switzerland in favor of Gonçalo Ramos. Portugal scored six goals in a rout of Switzerland — it scored six goals combined in its three group stage games — and Ronaldo was left on the bench for the quarterfinal against Morocco.

Ronaldo came on in the second half of that game but failed to score as Morocco won 1-0. The game might have been the final international game of Ronaldo’s career as he exited the field in tears. Ronaldo has long been Portugal’s captain and is the country’s all-time leading scorer. While it’s not out of the question that he could continue playing for Portugal, he’ll be 39 ahead of the 2024 Euros and will have spent the last two seasons playing soccer against lesser competition.

Ronaldo’s move to a league for financial reasons and not competitive ones also comes as the debate between him and Lionel Messi as the greatest modern soccer player seemed to end for good with Messi and Argentina’s World Cup victory. While Messi is two years younger than Ronaldo, he’s reportedly set to continue his stay at European giants PSG for another season and is widely anticipated to make a move stateside to Major League Soccer at some point.

After scoring 84 goals in 196 games in his first stint at Manchester United, Ronaldo made a huge move to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009. He was the best striker in the world in his time at Madrid and averaged over a goal a game with the club. He left Madrid for Juventus in 2018 and played with the Italian giants for three seasons before returning to Manchester United in the summer of 2021 as Juventus looked to lower its wage bill.

Ronaldo scored 19 goals in 40 games in his second stint at United and while he provided goals that United sorely needed over the 2021-22 season, his presence in the team was also a constant source of debate as United moved on from manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and his time with the club became tumultuous upon ten Hag’s arrival.

After starting on the bench against Tottenham in the fall, Ronaldo refused to come into the game as a sub and left the bench before the game was over. He made just four starts and scored one goal in EPL play this season.

World Cup: Sky Sports writers say Regragui was 'manager of the tournament'

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Written by northsouth

Category: Sport

Published: 24 December 2022

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LONDON - Writers at British television channel Sky Sports have added to the cacophony of voices praising the heroic leadership of Morocco national team manager Walid Regragui this World Cup.

In a round-up of the tournament published Friday, nine of twelve Sky Sports writers agreed that Regragui, who led the Atlas Lions to victories over teams held up as major contenders for the World Cup trophy, was the manager of the tournament.

"It was an almost unfathomably impressive managerial performance from Regragui to take Morocco to the World Cup semi-finals, beating Belgium, Spain and Portugal, less than four months after taking the job," sports writer Nick Wright said.

Paris-born Regragui only took on the role as manager of Morocco in August of this year, after predecessor Vahid Halilhodzic was sacked by the Moroccan football governing body over disagreements about the team’s management.

He was able to mend bridges and bring Hakim Ziyech, who retired from international football after Halilhodzic exiled him for 'disciplinary reasons', back into the fold.

His well-organised and defensively strong side, ranked 22nd in the world just before the World Cup began, became the first African team ever to make it to the last four of the tournament.

"I think Africans can go far, why not dream of winning the cup? We want the next generation to dare to dream," Regragui said after his team's win against Portugal in the quarter-finals.

The Atlas Lions' history-making run ended with a 2-0 defeat to France in the semi-finals, and they lost 2-1 to Croatia in the third-place play-off on Saturday.

"To do what the Morocco manager Regragui has done in the space of a month in the job is baffling," Sky Sports writer Sam Blitz said.

Regragui played for the Moroccan national side in the 2000s, as well as a number of Spanish, French, and Moroccan clubs.

He saw success as a manager when he led Casablanca’s Wydad Athletic Club to the African Champions League crown earlier this year.

Regragui - derogatorily nicknamed 'Avocado Head' when first appointed as national team coach - watched coaching lectures from Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta over Zoom last year in his pursuit to become a better manager.