Morocco’s 2030 World Cup Co-Hosting Costs Estimated at $5.2 Billion

Morocco will co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal. A co-organization that will benefit the entire kingdom, but more particularly certain key sectors such as tourism and construction, reveals a study carried out by Sogécapital Gestion, a subsidiary of the Société Générale Maroc group. This competition will give Morocco more visibility on the international scene and boost tourism, and consequently, the local economy, analyzes Sogécapital, noting that the construction of infrastructure (stadiums, hotels...) as part of this World Cup will generate many jobs and "leave a significant legacy for local athletes and the population in general".

Beyond that, this World Cup will contribute to strengthening social cohesion and national unity, indicates the study which has estimated the cost of this co-organization for Morocco. Taking into account inflation and new construction standards, the organization of the 2030 World Cup should cost between 15 and 20 billion dollars for the Morocco-Spain-Portugal trio. Morocco should mobilize nearly 5 billion dollars (around 52 billion dirhams). This budget is intended for the construction and rehabilitation of stadiums (17 billion dirhams), training centers (8 billion dirhams), transportation and other infrastructure (17 billion dirhams) and general organization costs (10 billion dirhams).

According to the study, the state should bear the cost of building the stadiums and training centers (25 billion dirhams) over the 2024-2030 horizon. It should resort to bank loans and/or private debt for the work related to the transport network as well as concessional external loans and donations/aid from other countries to cover the inherent costs of the organization. The co-organization of the 2030 World Cup will certainly benefit the construction sector which would be "driven for several months, even years, by large-scale projects (stadiums, infrastructure, roads, etc.), thus strengthening the utilization rate of operators," the study points out, specifying that the sector should absorb the largest share of the organization’s cost, around 20 billion dirhams.

The Moroccan tourism sector would also be impacted in the short and medium term thanks to this event which should make it possible to improve the national hotel offer. According to the study, more than 100,000 additional beds will be provided to manage the significant influx of visitors and tourism revenues could reach up to 120 billion dirhams in 2030. The banking sector will not be left out. An increase in the outstanding bank financing dedicated to infrastructure projects and an increase in the use of banking services are expected, the study also announces in the telecommunications sector an increase in voice and data traffic as well as an improvement in penetration rates at the national level and an acceleration of the deployment of 5G.