FIFA Only Has Itself To Blame Over 2026 Scrap

With no one appearing to be overly thrilled with the contestants currently scrapping for the honour of hosting the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has only itself to blame.

- Keir Radnedge

The scandalous 2018/ 2022 vote may have been eight years ago but the scars have not healed.

For a start, FIFA politics have trumped common sense. Putting together the vast bid book demands more time than the mere six months Morocco and the United (USA/Mexico/ Canada) bids were given.

Then FIFA came up with an evaluation taskforce comprising five of Infantino’s own appointees: joint deputy secretary-generals Marco Villiger and Zvonimir Boban, audit chair Tomaz Vesel, governance chair Mukul Mudgal and competitions committee delegate Ilco Gjorgioski. Their modus operandi and powers were even the subject of a rare bust-up in FIFA Council.

Late in April this taskforce was scheduled to visit the bidders, assess everything they found, and then award marks on a scale of nought to five across a range of nine infrastructural and revenue-related criteria. This is the part which scared the Moroccans, whose venue plans are still largely architects’ projections.

How does one assess stadia which do not exist? If the riposte is that this did Qatar no harm, well...that was then and this is now.