Five African countries appear to be launching bids for the 2010 World Cup. The application deadline was Tuesday, December 31.
FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said Monday that “unofficially Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and South Africa” are in the race.
Although Morocco, Egypt and Libya were expected to join South Africa in bidding for the 2010 World Cup, Tunisia joined the group at the eleventh hour, increasing the possibility of a joint North African bid for the cup.
Tunisia’s news agency TAP said the country’s president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had “ordered the (country’s) football federation to declare its intention to bid to host the 2010 World Cup”.
Tunisia is already hosting the 2004 African Nations Cup, and is ahead of Morocco and Egypt in terms of sporting infrastructure.
Hammouda Ben Ammar, the head of the Tunisian Football Federation, hinted at the possibility of a joint bid with Morocco. He said on the BBC’s Web site, “for the moment our bid is independent. We’ll study this with the Mahgreb Soccer Federation and we may organize the event jointly”.
South Africa appears to be the favourite because it still has the best facilities in Africa having narrowly missed out on World Cup 2006
