By David Owen
February 22 – Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has come out in favour of Morocco’s bid for the 2026 World Cup.
The Swiss octogenarian, 82 next month, was recently inspired by his compatriot Roger Federer’s latest grand slam win in tennis’s Australian Open to return to Twitter after a two-year hiatus.
Since then, he has fired off a further five tweets, including backing for a Swiss 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic bid and an assertion that, “as new facts have appeared”, it was time to question his current six-year ban from football-related activities. This was set by FIFA’s appeal committee in February 2016 in a ruling that cut the length of the ban from eight years.
His support for Morocco came in a tweet today which said: “World Cup 2026: Co-Hosting rejected by FIFA after 2002 (also applied in 2010 and 2018). And now: Morocco would be the logical host! And it is time for Africa again!”.
With an impressive 2.5 million Twitter followers, there is no doubt that Blatter’s contribution to the contest – which pits the North African nation against a joint bid from the United States, Mexico and Canada in a true David-versus-Goliath match-up – will have been widely noted.
What is less clear is the extent to which the Moroccans are likely to welcome his support. Though there are reservoirs of respect for the man who headed FIFA for 17 prosperous though hugely controversial and ultimately damaging years, he remains an intensely divisive figure.
And while he has already delivered one World Cup to Africa, in 2010, it is a moot point how much he was able to influence bidding contests even while he was President. In the 2022 race, for example, I believe – though I am not aware that he has ever confirmed this – that Blatter was alone in casting his first-round ballot for Australia.
The 2026 World Cup host, or more likely hosts, is/are set to be chosen at the FIFA Congress on June 13 in Moscow, ahead of this year’s World Cup competition.
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