Javier Tebas challenges FIFA denial over Morocco’s 2030 World Cup final claim

FIFA’s swift denial that Morocco will host the 2030 World Cup final has drawn a sharp response from La Liga president Javier Tebas, who questioned the governing body’s account and its policy of issuing denials.

Tebas, a longstanding opponent of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, did not criticise Morocco directly. Instead, he attacked what he described as FIFA’s increasingly familiar approach to disputed claims in a post on social media.

“Another denial from FIFA! Nothing new,” Tebas wrote. “Denial has become almost an official policy of this FIFA, which now describes the claim that the 2030 World Cup final will be played in Morocco as ‘false and misleading’.”

He then focused on the source of the original announcement, asking whether FIFA’s version should be accepted when the claim had come from a senior Moroccan football official.

“The small problem is who said it,” Tebas added. “It was not a journalist, nor merely a rumour on social media. It was Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Moroccan Football Federation, a member of the FIFA Council and Morocco’s minister delegate responsible for the budget.”

Lekjaa has claimed that the final will be staged in Casablanca, while FIFA has rejected that suggestion.

“Lekjaa says the final will be played in Casablanca and FIFA denies it,” Tebas continued. “So who is lying? The president of the organising federation, a member of the FIFA Council and a minister in the Moroccan government? Or should we once again believe Infantino’s official denial?”

Tebas also referred to an earlier episode which, he argued, demonstrated the unreliability of FIFA’s denials. He recalled events during the Club World Cup involving a conversation between United States president Donald Trump and Infantino about a red card shown to Folarin Balogun.

“We know this method very well,” Tebas wrote. “During the Club World Cup, Trump called Infantino about the red card shown to Balogun. FIFA assured us that the call had nothing to do with anything. Then, purely by coincidence, the suspension was cancelled and the player was allowed to play. But that also had nothing to do with the matter… and now there is another denial.”

Tebas ended his post with a sarcastic suggestion that FIFA should create a dedicated section on its website to record its statements.

“Perhaps FIFA will soon have to create a new section on its website called ‘Current denials’, including the date of publication and, more importantly, the expiry date,” he said. “Because when denials become a habit at an organisation, the issue is no longer what it denies, but who believes it.”