Spanish Firm Eyes Revival of Morocco’s 2030 World Cup Stadium Project

The Spanish company was entrusted with this project in 2018, when Morocco presented itself as a solo candidate for the organization of the 2026 World Cup, which was ultimately awarded to the United States, Mexico and Canada. As the Moroccan candidacy did not materialize, the project was abandoned. It has been reactivated since the joint candidacy of Morocco, Spain and Portugal was selected for the organization of the 2030 World Cup.

The president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), Fouzi Lekjaa, has already announced that a call for tenders will soon be launched to recruit the company that will carry out the work. The Seville group hopes to take over this project, which planned the construction of a 93,000-seat stadium. Today, Morocco sees bigger and wants a 113,000-seat stadium, which will be the largest in Africa and the second largest in the world after the May 1st stadium in Rungrado, Pyongyang in North Korea, with a capacity of 114,000 seats.

The African Grand Stadium will be built in Benslimane, 45 kilometers from Casablanca, and would require an investment of 5 billion dirhams (about 455 million euros). Morocco is keen to build this jewel to host the 2030 World Cup final. According to FIFA’s conditions, the World Cup final is played in a stadium of at least 80,000 seats. The Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid and the Camp Nou in Barcelona would meet this condition.

The FIFA technical committee is in Morocco this week to visit the stadiums that will host the 2030 World Cup matches. The official list of selected sites will be made public by the second half of 2024, reports El Español. Before 2030, Morocco will host the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and the 2025 Men’s Africa Cup of Nations, and could host the second edition of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2029, after the first edition scheduled for 2025 in the United States.

Morocco has also planned to mobilize 9.5 billion dirhams (868 million euros) for the renovation of six stadiums, namely: the Grand Stade de Tanger, the Complexe Mohammed V in Casablanca, the Complexe sportif Moulay Abdallah in Rabat, the Grand Stade d’Agadir, the Grand Stade de Marrakech and the Complexe sportif de Fès. A first batch will be renovated between 2023 and 2025, in accordance with the standards of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and a second batch between 2025 and 2028, in accordance with FIFA standards.