"The province of Benslimane will have the honour of hosting the 2030 World Cup final." That's Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, speaking at a political party event on Thursday — and he said it like it was already decided.
It isn't. FIFA has made no such announcement, and Spain wants the final just as badly. Rafael Louzan, his counterpart at the Royal Spanish Football Federation, said earlier this month that "Spain should host the final." In August, FIFA explicitly called reports that Infantino had privately promised Morocco the final "false and misleading." So Lekjaa is either working with information nobody else has, or he's doing some very public lobbying.
Infantino's support is crumbling in Europe
The World Cup final battle is the colourful sideshow. The main event is Gianni Infantino's increasingly difficult path to reelection.
The French Football Federation became the latest European body to pull its backing on Thursday, with FFF president Philippe Diallo making it official. They join the Football Association of Ireland, the English FA, and Italy's federation in withdrawing support — all of them spooked by Infantino's botched attempt to sell a 20% stake in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors. That proposal collapsed in July after the regional confederations rejected it, and the fallout hasn't stopped since.
UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation, and Concacaf are now actively calling for change and hunting for a credible alternative candidate ahead of the March 2027 election in Rabat. Infantino still holds Conmebol and CAF in his corner, so this is far from over — but losing France, England, Italy, and Ireland in the same stretch is not a minor turbulence. That's a structural problem.
The $12 billion stadium nobody has officially awarded yet
Back to Morocco's claim. The venue in question is Benslimane, 60km from Casablanca, and home to the Hassan II Stadium — a $12 billion construction project with a projected capacity of 115,000. When complete, it will be the largest football-specific stadium on earth.
The scale of that project is partly why Morocco's argument for hosting the final carries weight. You don't spend $12 billion on a stadium and expect to host the group stage. But FIFA's decision is political as much as logistical, and with Infantino's grip on European federations loosening, the landscape of who owes whom what favours is shifting in real time.
- FIFA presidential election: March 18, 2027, Rabat
- 2030 World Cup hosts: Morocco, Spain, Portugal (majority of games), plus Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay (opening matches)
- Hassan II Stadium capacity: 115,000 — projected largest football-specific stadium in the world
- European federations withdrawing Infantino support: France, England, Ireland, Italy
FIFA has still not confirmed which cities will host games, let alone where the final goes. Lekjaa's claim is a statement of intent. Whether it becomes reality depends on a FIFA politics story that's only getting messier.
