Did Lekjaa rush to announce the World Cup final? FIFA repeats its slap to Morocco

"So far": the Hassan II Stadium will not host the final

FIFA have flatly denied any agreement or promise to hand Morocco the 2030 World Cup final. The decisive response ends the controversy sparked by Fouzi Lekjaa, and it deepens the doubts over whether the World Cup file is being used as a bargaining chip in the power struggle raging inside football's governing body.

Their denial followed striking claims from a senior Moroccan football official, who insisted the tournament's showpiece, four years from now, would be staged at the Grand Stade Hassan II in Casablanca. That stadium is still under construction.

Spanish newspaper "Marca" revealed the reply, citing an official FIFA spokesperson, and it was short and decisive: "As announced on 5 August 2026, FIFA will take a decision in due course."

Behind the claims was Fouzi Lekjaa, one of the most prominent figures in Moroccan football and also the country's Deputy Minister of Finance. He made the statement during an electoral rally for the liberal Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), which is running its election campaign today.

This wasn't the first time. Exactly a month earlier, on 5 August, British newspaper "The Times" published a shocking report claiming that FIFA president Gianni Infantino had offered Morocco the hosting of the final in exchange for its support. FIFA responded then with the very same sentence: "It is incorrect and misleading to claim that the FIFA president made any promises regarding the venue for the 2030 World Cup final."

One month on, FIFA find themselves repeating that response word for word to the same man.

All this confusion lays bare the scale of the internal crisis rocking FIFA. It stems from their controversial project to sell a share of future World Cup revenues to private investors, a plan they eventually abandoned in the face of fierce opposition from the European and Asian confederations.

"The Times" read FIFA's efforts to get closer to Morocco as part of a battle to cling to power and win the votes of the African continent ahead of the presidential elections scheduled in Rabat.

For the first time in history, the 2030 World Cup will be held across six countries. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will host the vast majority of the matches, while Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay stage the three opening games in honour of the centenary of the first World Cup, held in Montevideo in 1930.

So far, FIFA have not officially announced how the stadiums will be split between the three main host countries. The venue for the final therefore remains unknown, and everything being said amounts to nothing more than premature electoral promises.