FIFA has rejected Morocco's claims to consider the status of Western Sahara as part of the Moroccan kingdom in its bid assessment report for the 2030 FIFA World Cup. The highest governing body of world football has significantly overlooked a map submitted by Morocco during the evaluation process as the presented Western Sahara as Morocco's territory.

The 2030 FIFA World Cup will reportedly be hosted in six countries across three continents to celebrate the centenary year of the World Cup. The FIFA Council adopted a key decision in October 2023 regarding the 2030 FIFA World Cup to finalize Portugal, Spain, and Morocco's combined bid to host the grand event. The council unanimously agreed to award Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay the hosting rights for some of the matches.

The geopolitical tension

The Western Sahara conflict is a long-standing territorial dispute in North Africa. When Spain surrendered control of the region in 1975, Morocco solidified its claim through a mass civilian movement known as the 'Green March'. This led to an extensive war with the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence movement. The Polisario Front declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) and established a government-in-exile in Algeria. The conflict has resulted in a divided territory, with Morocco controlling the western portion and the SADR holding the eastern region. Morocco illegally annexed Western Sahara twice in the past, in 1976 and 1979. The United Nations offered its mediation efforts, but a lasting solution remains elusive, leaving the future of Western Sahara and its people uncertain.

However, Morocco submitted a map alongside their bid assessment that included Western Sahara in its territory. This move aimed at legitimizing the Makhzen regime's expansionist ideas. In a turnaround of events, FIFA has recognized the distinct and internationally acknowledged borders between Morocco and Western Sahara. FIFA effectively avoided the Moroccan government's territorial ambitions by rejecting the map. This sensitive political situation is still profoundly worrying for the governing body of world football.

🔴HM King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, has the great pleasure of announcing to the Moroccan people that the FIFA Executive Committee has unanimously selected the Morocco-Spain-Portugal bid as the sole candidate to organize the 2030 Football World Cup. pic.twitter.com/wCUFXBmL2c
— Moroccan Diplomacy 🇲🇦 (@Marocdiplo_EN) October 4, 2023

Some other issues also may lead FIFA to go through various talks with respective authorities and its sub-committees. Amnesty International, an organization that works on human rights and the concerning instances, submitted a report on human rights abuses in the said territory of Morocco and Western Sahara. The report was named 'The States of the World's Human Rights 2024' and it included human rights abuses allegations such as torture and ill-treatment, women's rights, impunity, and many others.

FIFA's evaluation report

El Independiente, the renowned Spanish news outlet, has unveiled the Moroccan government's attempt to manipulate FIFA's evaluation report. The report, which assessed Morocco's bid for the 2030 World Cup, omitted a map showcasing Morocco's territorial claims over Western Sahara. This omission was deliberate, as the inclusion of such a map would have directly contradicted international law and UN resolutions. The UN firmly recognizes Western Sahara as a non-self-governing territory awaiting decolonization. Morocco's efforts to assert its sovereignty over Western Sahara appear to be aimed at exploiting the region's natural resources. However, This initiative has no legal basis and is countered by FIFA's recent technical report.

El Independiente also indicated in a recent report that the controversy surrounding Morocco's falsified map, alongside other candidate-related issues, was a key topic of discussion within FIFA's committee, which includes representatives from Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. This pivotal decision by FIFA has evidently angered the Moroccan government, whose strategic plans have been significantly disrupted.

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