Football
Associated Press 6y

South Africa to back Morocco 2026 World Cup bid ahead of June vote

South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan has promised Morocco "unqualified support" in its drive to host the 2026 World Cup in a contest against a combined North American bid.

On Monday, the South African federation said Jordaan had assured a visiting Morocco bid delegation that he would "personally lobby" African officials ahead of the scheduled vote in Moscow on June 13.

Up to 207 FIFA member federations will vote at their congress on the eve of the World Cup in Russia.

Morocco is up against a United States-Canada-Mexico bid to stage the continent's second World Cup. South Africa hosted the tournament in 2010, beating Morocco and Egypt in a vote.

That South African bid is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for a suspicious $10 million payment to FIFA voters in the North American region.

In indictments published by the justice department in 2015, two of the listed "co-conspirators" are South African football officials who are not identified.

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