Fouzi Lekjaa has given his answer to the question Spain has been asking increasingly loudly: where will the 2030 World Cup final be played? Benslimane.
“The province of Benslimane will have the honor of hosting the 2030 World Cup final,” the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) told a PAM campaign meeting in Bouznika on Wednesday.
Lekjaa said Benslimane should already be preparing for the final.
“Anyone aspiring to be part of the next government will have no choice but to develop this province,” he said.
The remark puts the Hassan II Grand Stadium squarely into a contest that Spanish officials have spent the past several weeks conducting in public.
Spanish football federation president Rafael Louzán has repeatedly argued that the final should be played in Spain.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has joined him.
“We will do everything to make that happen, have no doubt about it,” Sánchez said recently. “We have all the necessary conditions for the final to be held in Spain.”
Louzán has been less diplomatic.
“Where else would it be played if not in Spain?” he said when asked about the final.
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Lekjaa’s answer is now equally uncomplicated. Benslimane.
The two countries have formidable stadiums to put behind their claims.
Spain has the Santiago Bernabéu and its history. Morocco is building the 115,000-seat Hassan II Grand Stadium in Benslimane, planned as one of the world’s largest football grounds.
Neither gets to make the final call. Morocco, Spain and Portugal are jointly hosting the 2030 tournament, but FIFA has yet to formally allocate its opening match and final.
A report by Spanish journalist Roberto Gómez this week said the current working plan has eight World Cup stadiums in Spain, six in Morocco and two in Portugal, although the allocation remains provisional.
FIFA is expected to inspect proposed venues in the three countries before the end of the year.
Those inspections will matter before the argument over the final can move from declarations to a decision.
