It is time Arab land hosted world soccer cup
Regional, Sports, 10/12/1999

New President of the Arab Sports Union, Prince Sultan Ben Fahd, on Monday said it is high time an Arab state hosted the world soccer cup. Prince Sultan, who replaced his late brother Prince Fayssal, made the statement at a meeting held by the Moroccan association in charge of promoting Morocco's bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

He said Morocco does have all material and human resources to successfully host the planetary event.

Morocco is competing with fellow African nation, South Africa, Germany, England and Brazil to host the World Cup.

Observers believe that the race for winning the bid is between Morocco and South Africa, as FIFA (world football governing board) wants an African country to host the World Cup.

FIFA is to select next July 6 the host country of the finals.

Prince Sultan renewed the Arab Sports Union infallible and unconditional backing to Morocco's bid. He added that he already started contacts with FIFA members to glean votes in favor of Morocco.

The union president, who called for a practical and well-conceived plan to bring the World competition to Morocco, lauded the excellent level of Moroccan football, which has always honored Arabs in international tournaments.

Morocco was the first Arab and African country to qualify for the World Cup in 1970 and the first African nation to make it to the second round of the World Cup (Mexico 1986).

The Cairo meeting was attended by various Arab sports and political figures and businessmen.

Speaking at the meeting, Moroccan Youth and Sports Minister, Ahmed Moussaoui, stressed that Morocco is prepared more than ever to host the World Cup.

Morocco is well-armed for a loyal competition to win the bid without any "complex of inferiority," he said.

This is the third time that Morocco bids for hosting the World Cup. The two previous bids (1994, 1998) were lost to the USA and France.

The Moroccan authorities, who grasped the lessons of the two previous bids, came up this year with a sound file, including an ambitious program to build modern stadiums and promote hotel, telecom and highway networks.

Previous Stories:
  Arab sports ministers meet to support Morocco world cup 2006 bid   (10/6/1999)
  Moroccan Raja soccer club beats Ghana's hearts of oak   (8/23/1999)
  Arabs unanimously support Morocco's candidacy to host world soccer cup in 2006   (8/19/1999)

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