Morocco’s football soft power is growing at a steady pace across the globe having played its politics well before it launched its bid to host the World Cup in 2026.

The North African country is in competition with a joint bid from Canada, Mexico and the United States to host the month-long soccer tournament.

Already it has assured Africa that they will make the continent proud as the authorities continue with serious lobbying campaign with use of strategic agreements to increase their influence and have every single African vote in one basket.

The June 13 vote will determine the next host of the tournament. In many ways it is an election, with grand promises of stadiums filled to capacity, high TV ratings, and lucrative corporate sponsorships.

The Moroccan technical file consists of 24 sections covering many areas, including vision and strategy, sustainable development and technical information on the country.

The administrative component of the file contains the signing of more than 200 contracts at local and national level, including agreements with host cities, stadiums, airports, and various organizations.

A closer look at the highlights as placed in the official bid portal the development is supported by political ability which is one of key pillars that firmly support Morocco’s candidature.

Already the bid is winning  important support across the globe and still remains the most likely to succeed having gained grounds from US President Donald Trump controversial sentiments.

Various unnamed sources indicate the Trump administration travel ban — which affects residents of six mostly Muslim countries — as well as the president’s comments about African countries could put the North American bid in jeopardy.

Morocco itself is ranked as one of the most political stable countries in the world of recent times according to various annual Risk Map reports.

The level of political stability in Morocco is similar to most Western countries, such as the United States, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, Sweden, etc.

Thanks to its insightful policies and strong security system, Morocco managed to place itself among the safest countries in the region, playing a key role in helping other countries thwart terrorist attacks.

The Kingdom is today one of the countries least impacted by terrorism (0.077 on the index “Impact of Terrorism”, published by the Global Terrorism Index), being ranked in the top 40 countries of the index.

A report by British Foreign Office (FCO) classification an year ago ranks Morocco high among the list of “safest countries in the world”, alongside European and North American nations. In November the same year, a new note released by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Morocco is the safest country in North Africa.

A politically developed state in July 2011 adopted a new constitution that was submitted to referendum the 1st of July. Many changes came with the new constitution such as reinforcement of the head of government power including dissolution of the Parliament, nomination of certain functions, reinforcement of the power of the Parliament that now controls of government actions, evaluation of the public policies and recognition of the plural identity of Morocco.

The new constitution may well have succeeded in staying ahead of the protest that has led to the demise of the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and plunged Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain into turmoil and violence.

It should be noted that Morocco plays a central role with the state being the main investor of the Kingdom in infrastructure – which strengthens the bid regarding commitment to deliver.

The particularity of Morocco and of its link between the state and the strategic companies firmly represents a significant advantage for the its bid.

This is potrayed by working alignment of decision making between the government and the key companies for the organization of the World Cup: stadia operators, transportation companies and infrastructure development companies which are indeed directly attached to the ministries.

The decision of the Moroccan Government to submit a bid would mean a direct commitment of these key companies to fit with the FIFA requirements when the competition will take place.

Morocco is currently preparing to receive FIFA experts for the official inspection visit, to take place on April 17-19.

Meanwhile,lobbying and deal-making will continue up until the last moments as the bidders attempt to extract the maximum benefit from political manoeuvring.