{"id":461821,"date":"2018-02-06T09:22:04","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T09:22:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2018\/02\/06\/chan-boosts-moroccos-2026-world-cup-bid\/"},"modified":"2018-02-06T09:22:04","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T09:22:04","slug":"chan-boosts-moroccos-2026-world-cup-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/02\/06\/chan-boosts-moroccos-2026-world-cup-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"CHAN boosts Morocco\u2019s 2026 World Cup bid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"medsection1\">\n<!-- End of html generated by this->header() --><\/p>\n<p class=\"floatLeft\">Sports News of Tuesday,  6 February 2018<\/p>\n<p class=\"floatRight\"><strong>Source: <\/strong>Starrfmonline.com <\/p>\n<p>2018-02-06<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-left\">\n<p class=\"article-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/91742937.295.jpg\" alt=\"MOROCCO WIN 750x430\" title=\"MOROCCO WIN 750x430\" width=\"295\" height=\"169\" \/><span class=\"image_caption\"><span>Morocco beats Nigeria to win the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"noPrint\">\n<div id=\"537626303\" style=\"width:300;height:250;margin:0;padding:0\">\n<p>\t\t  <noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" name=\"b2ad7fa7fd\" src=\"http:\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/afr?auid=537626303&amp;cb=151125813973067\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\"><a href=\"\/\/ghanaweb-d.openx.net\/w\/1.0\/rc?cs=b2ad7fa7fd&amp;cb=151125813973067\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/1517908924_543_ai\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"clear:right\"> Morocco was near-flawless hosts of the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN), which ended at the weekend, confirming they are creditable candidates to stage the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>FIFA member nations will this June select the kingdom or a Canada\/Mexico\/United States alliance to host the global football showpiece after Russia this year and Qatar in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 World Cup will be the first featuring 48 countries \u2013 up from the current 32 \u2013 and any serious slip-ups by Morocco in the 16-nation Chan would have sent damaging signals.<\/p>\n<p>However, apart from the decades-old African problem of luring crowds to fixtures not involving the host nation, Morocco emerged with flying colours.<\/p>\n<p>Morocco could argue that the crowd-pulling appeal of home-based Africans, however talented, cannot be compared with world superstars like Lionel Messi, Neymar and Ronaldo.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe organisation of this tournament has been exceptional,\u201d Germany-born Rwanda coach Antoine Hey told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMorocco has provided infrastructure that meets the highest international standards. I am extremely impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Libya goalkeeper and captain Mohamed Nashnush also hailed the organisation by Morocco, who are bidding a fifth time to host the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMorocco pulled out all the stops and the Libyan footballers, coaches and officials were very comfortable wherever they went in the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe organisation and infrastructure were superb and I hope Morocco win the right to host the 2026 World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Morocco national football federation head Fouzi Lekjaa, who is also a Confederation of African Football (CAF) vice-president, says his country has a compelling case.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince the first World Cup in 1930, Africa has organised the tournament only once,\u201d he said, referring to the 2010 finals in South Africa. Pre-Chan tournament favourites Morocco whipped 10-man Nigeria 4-0 to win the competition, which has full international status despite being restricted to home-based footballers.<\/p>\n<p>Their six matches attracted near-capacity crowds to the 65 000-capacity Stade Mohammed V in commercial capital Casablanca.<\/p>\n<p>However, apart from the group game between Nigeria and Libya in northern city Tangiers, matches not involving the host nation drew paltry crowds. Central city Marrakech and Agadir in the south on the Atlantic coast were the other venues used during the 23-day tournament.<\/p>\n<p>Cold northern hemisphere winter weather was one deterrent to Moroccans with many who did attend wearing clothing more familiar with Europe than Africa.<\/p>\n<p>An encouraging sign, though, was the number of families who came to watch some of the best domestic football talent in Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Matches kicked off at 1630 and 1930 local\/GMT time and many crowds decreased noticeably after the first game as temperatures dropped significantly.<\/p>\n<p>Weather will not be an issue should Morocco be awarded the 2026 World Cup as the tournament is traditionally staged during June and July \u2013 hot months in the kingdom.<\/p>\n<p>Morocco has not officially named their proposed World Cup venues, but the four Chan stadiums are sure to be in the list.<\/p>\n<p>At least one venue in capital city Rabat would certainly be included to host the World Cup in 2016.<\/p>\n<p><!-- uploaded by: 50 updated by: 50 --><\/p>\n<p><!-- Start of html generated by this->footer() -->\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a style=\"display:none\" rel=\"follow\" href=\"http:\/\/megatheme.ir\/\" title=\"\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633\">\u0642\u0627\u0644\u0628 \u0648\u0631\u062f\u067e\u0631\u0633<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sports News of Tuesday, 6 February 2018 Source: Starrfmonline.com 2018-02-06 Morocco beats Nigeria to win the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN) Morocco was near-flawless hosts of the 2018 African Nations Championship (CHAN), which ended at the weekend, confirming they are creditable candidates to stage the 2026 World Cup. FIFA member nations will this June select [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":461822,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461821\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}