Qatar denies morocco vote for world football 2006 cup

Qatari reliable sources told MAP Qatar will not vote for Morocco in the race to host the 2006 world soccer cup.

According to the sources, Qatar's representative and member of the FIFA executive council, Mohamed Ben Hammam, will give his country's vote to the German candidacy. In addition to Morocco and Germany, three other countries are competing for the honor to host the football finals, namely South Africa, Brazil and Britain, MAP reported.

The Qatari decision is astonishing as the Arab youth and sports ministers'council had vowed support to the Moroccan candidacy during the meeting of its executive committee in Rabat last November. The committee considered Morocco's candidacy as that of the whole Arab nation.

The executive committee of the Arab football union had appointed -at a meeting in Cairo last October--the Qatari representative, Mohamed Ben Hammam, chairman of the Arab committee supporting Morocco's candidacy.