OWN CORRESPONDENT, Casablanca | Saturday 6.50pm.
A SIX-man, fact-finding delegation from world football controlling body Fifa is in Morocco to assess the chances of the North African state hosting the 2006 World Cup.
Alan Rothenberg of the United States leads a team comprising Richard Read of Australia, Youssef al-Serkal of the United Arab Emirates, Walter Sieber of Canada, Jilong Zhang of China and Urs Knuebuhler of Switzerland.
“We are here to learn about the Moroccan bid, meet officials and discover how passionate people are for organising the World Cup,” Rothenberg told reporters in Casablanca on Saturday.
Morocco and Brazil are considered outsiders behind England, Germany and South Africa in the five-nation race to host the quadrennial showcase of international football.
The delegation is scheduled to watch a Casablanca derby between African Champions League holders Raja and African Football Confederation (CAF) Cup runners-up Wydad at the refurbished Mohamed V Stadium.
It will also tour several cities to inspect stadia, security, roads, telecommunications and hotels during a tour that follows visits to Germany, England and Brazil.
South Africa host the delegation from March 9-14 and the team will submit reports on each candidate before the 24-strong Fifa executive committee selects the host nation during July.
Morocco are contenders for the third time, having lost to the United States in 1994 and France in 1998 and Fifa president Sepp Blatter has regularly said it is the turn of Africa in 2006 provided they meet requirements.
“Fifa will discover the country has changed compared with what it saw on previous inspections. Morocco will demonstrate tangible results,” sports minsiter Ahmed Moussaoui said.
Bid committee deputy chairman Driss Benhima said Morocco had pledged almost $600-million to upgrade sports facilities and modernise infrastructure as part of a five-year economic plan. — AFP