Botswana shuns Morocco, votes for North America
Mqondisi Dube | Wednesday June 13, 2018 17:12
BFA president, Maclean Letshwiti had said he had not made up his mind about who to vote for when he flew out to Russia early this week.
But results on Wednesday, indicated that Botswana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Liberia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Benin had instead, voted for the joint bid of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Morocco officials, had taken their time to travel to Botswana to present their bid book, but that was insufficient to sway BFA to vote for the North Africans.
Instead, the territorial conflict over the dispute Western Sahara appeared to tilt the bid favor in North America's favor.
North America triumphed 134 to Morocco's 65 and will now organize the 2026 World Cup.
Morocco has suffered World Cup heartache five times, the last three coming in the last decade.
Africa was split over backing the North Africans' bid, and it was evident before the votes were cast in Moscow that it was going to be an uphill task.
The FIFA congress in Moscow attracted 210 members.
Seven members, including the four countries, Canada, Mexico, Morocco and the US, abstained together with three US-governed territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the US Virgin Islands).