The hosts for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be confirmed today at the FIFA Congress in Russia.

Morocco faces a tough challenge from the joint United States-Canada-Mexico. The North Americans are the front runners after receiving a 4/5 rating in the initial assessment done by FIFA inspectors.

They boast of modern, established stadiums and well-developed transport links.

The African nation, on the other hand, got 2.7 out of five, with red flags raised over several critical aspects of the bid. They currently don’t have the infrastructure that will cope with a tournament that will be expanded to 48 teams in 2026.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino is reportedly supporting the North American bid because the three countries involved backed him for the presidency in 2016 when he took over after the reign of Sepp Blatter.

However, Morocco still has hope as several African countries are likely to rally behind them except for Zimbabwe, South Africa and Liberia who have declared their vote in favour of Americans.

France has lobbied behind the scenes for French-speaking Morocco.

Also, there are fears that North Americans’ could lose out due to US President Donald Trump’s divisive policies. The Trump’s administration has put visa restrictions on most Muslim countries.

Meanwhile, all FIFA members will take part in the voting inline with new rules which abolished the traditional process where a 12 member committee decided who will host the tournament.