MOROCCO’S bid to host the 2026 World Cup must be allowed to reach the final vote without being disqualified, in order to avoid any questions about the selection process, according to a senior FIFA official from Germany. Morocco is a big underdog against a three-nation bid from North America, and the country’s bid leaders have already voiced fears that FIFA inspectors could disqualify them from the June vote by giving insufficient marks to their tournament plans. But FIFA Council member Reinhard Grindel told The Associated Press in an interview that such a situation must be avoided in order to prevent any conspiracy theories from taking hold. “If there are only two candidates, the congress must have the chance to vote,” said Grindel, president of the German soccer body, which will help elect the 2026 host in Moscow on June 13. “We don’t need any rumors in such a process.” He added that kicking out one of the bidders would mean “there always will be a rumor about the background of such a decision.” The governing body changed its selection process for World Cup bids after the 2010 vote when a now-discredited executive committee picked Russia and Qatar as future hosts, seeming to ignore FIFA-appointed advisers that had flagged both as the highest-risk options. Since then, FIFA has put together a task force to visit and grade candidates on a list of criteria, and empowered it to disqualify any bid averaging less than 2 on a scale of 0 to 5. (SD-Agencies) |