Ahmad announced his intention during a visit to Morocco this week. The Madagascan official, who goes by one name, was this month elected as the new president of CAF, ending Issa Hayatou’s long-held grip on power.
The north African country has bid to host the global showpiece on four previous occasions but missed out on the 1994, 1998, 2006 and 2010 editions.
Ahmad received strong support in his campaign from the Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) to unseat Issa Hayatou and has given his support to proposals from the country to return the World Cup to Africa for the first time since the continent’s first staging of the tournament in South Africa in 2010.
“Morocco is a stronghold of African and world football,” Ahmad said. “This country lives and breathes football deep within itself. It is also equipped with beautiful infrastructure and is therefore able to organise the 2026 World Cup alone. As CAF president, I will back this project with great enthusiasm.”
World football’s governing body is currently formulating a bidding strategy for the 2026 World Cup and Infantino has previously said Fifa would encourage joint bids for the expanded tournament, which will feature 48 teams as opposed to 32. Fifa has traditionally shied away from a co-hosting model for its showpiece event, with the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea the only event to employ such a system.
However, the expanded tournament – which will still run for 32 days – is likely to cause logistical problems for a single host country and Infantino said Fifa would consider a bid comprising “two, three, four countries who can jointly present a project with three, four, five stadiums each”.
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