The contrast is unexpected. At a time when several North American cities, including Chicago and Vancouver, have withdrawn their bids from the race for the World Cup in 2026, citing fear of additional costs, Morocco says it is ready to break the bank to host the global tournament.

The Moroccan candidacy presented its file, its vision and above all its figures, Saturday March 17, during a press conference in Casablanca. They say a lot about the country's desire to win, for its fifth attempt to organize the World Cup.

Announced as the outsider of the race, faced with the dossier brought by the United States, Canada and Mexico, Morocco intends to transform its presumed weakness, an obvious lack of sporting infrastructure up to the standards of the event, into an asset major. His candidacy team announced on Saturday an investment of $15,8 billion in the event of victory against the North American competitor. A very high budget for the African country, equivalent to a little less than 15% of its GDP.

But, specified the president of the candidacy committee, Moulay Hafid Elalamy, these expenses will be done with or without Mondial. “We did not transform the country's strategy to stick to the World Cup, we did the opposite,” he suggested, taking up a formula heard as a refrain for several years in the Olympic movement .

The Moroccan file lists 14 stadiums, but only 12 would be retained in the event of victory. The economic capital, Casablanca, and the tourist capital, Marrakech, will each have two. The other host cities of the event would be Rabat, the administrative capital, the port of Tangier, Agadir, Meknes, Fez, Tetouan and Ouarzazate.

Five existing stadiums in Marrakech, Agadir, Fez, Rabat and Tangier would be renovated. Four other enclosures will be built, but their construction is already planned and financed, it will be done with or without Mondial. At the top of the list, the future Casablanca National Stadium, with a capacity of 93.000 seats. It would host the opening match and the final.

As a bonus, the kingdom plans to build 5 modular stadiums, whose capacity would be reduced after the World Cup, in order to better meet the needs of the local population: Meknes, El Jadida, Nador, Ouarzazate, Marrakech. Total cost: $1,2 billion.

Finally, the country would make a significant hotel investment, with the creation of 30.000 additional hotel rooms in the host cities. Cost: $3,2 billion.

Sufficient? According to the project leaders, the Moroccan candidacy can make a difference thanks to three assets: its time zones (GMT +0), which will allow a large number of countries, particularly in Europe, to follow the matches live; the ease for fans to travel to Morocco, with 70 countries exempt from the visa regime; and finally the short distances to be covered between the stadiums. Clearly, Morocco's announced strengths closely resemble the weaknesses of the North American file. Logic.

The country announces potential economic benefits estimated at $2,7 billion, thanks in particular to the creation of 110.000 jobs.