‘Spain played dirty with the projects after months of delays’ | Relief

Berlin, Germany).- A full day of meetings in Agadir (Morocco) with several breaks, but one constant: tension. From 9:30 am to midnight, shortly after that, around 1:15 am, you need to catch a flight. Spain, Morocco and Portugal came to the negotiating table with a clear goal: to finally close the chapter on headquarters. World Championship to be able to consolidate Order bookthe final candidacy notebook, which will mark the work from July 31 until the 2030 World Cup. It seemed that everything was clear, and this is something that they discussed many times in the monthly meetings they held: Spain 11 places, Portugal 3 and Morocco 6

. But no. At the last minute, both RFEF and CSD abandoned their attempts to impose two more: Vigowith significant last minute political pressure, and Valenciawho sent the documentation to latest time, outside of time.

In fact, there has already been a certain amount of hostility towards the Spanish technical team in recent months. The stinginess with which decisions were made at the RFEF had long irritated the federations of Morocco and Portugal, which accused their colleagues of being more attentive to politically save Pedro Rocha than to focus on preparing for the World Cup.

These difficult points seemed to be resolved with the consolidation of the RFEF President from Extremadura in his post, and the work moved forward, although criticism continued to come. not for the record. “He’s more aware of being in the middle of a photo with Laporta than he is of the job.“, “the level is very low”, “some people don’t even speak English” and other subtleties.

Only three members of the RFEF commission attended the key meeting in Agadir: Maria Tato, Fernando Sanz and Jorge Mowinckel. These two are the most valuable members of the RFEF team, although yesterday they had to work side by side with the famous “Del Bosque Commission”, which was represented by the chief of staff of José Manuel Uribes, Juan Maria Fernandez Carnicer“It was very difficult, and we still have to go through it,” sums up a direct source at the meeting.

“Spain played dirty. The RFEF knew there were 11 pitches and asking for more at the last minute was a way to hinder the work.

” says another. “After several months in which the situation with the RFEF only slowed things down, now this…” they lamented. Both those in charge of Morocco and Portugal embraced this “surprise” at the last minute fatal. It didn’t matter.

The attempt to include Vigo and Valencia in the host country’s package (which was late in sending an email agreeing to the terms) had nothing to do with the understanding that had so far existed regarding this process in the three countries.”At least they had the opportunity to continue negotiations.“Relevo is noted by federal sources.

But until when? RFEF intends to allow 13 sites entry and Let FIFA then be the one who, if it considers it possible, will make its choice.. That is: “a problem for someone else”. Neither Pedro Rocha nor the government wants (if they can avoid it) to look bad in the eyes of anyone. Valencia have been through very difficult times from the start, and only at the end did the club sign a document to avoid hosting the World Cup. As for Vigo, in recent weeks there has been some pressure on Balaidos to join a team that everyone considered absent last year.

Unrest at headquarters

The unrest among the rest of the 11 stadiums that were more or less assured of their official status as World Cup winners is also huge. Gran Canaria have done a great job throughout the process and now they fear that for political reasons the position they have deservedly won is under threat.. Two stadiums in Madrid, two in Barcelona, ​​two in the Basque Country, two in Andalusia, one in Zaragoza, the mentioned Gran Canaria and another in Coruña a priori became the 11th winner of the Spanish delegation.

The problem is that now when trying to sneak into Valencia and Vigo, some of the starters fall. And another option: this The anger of Morocco and Portugal will reduce the weight of the RFEF team when it comes time, for example, to fight over which stadium will host the most important matches and even the final.

and it is not at all clear that it will be the Santiago Bernabeu.

The decision cannot take long. The “bid book” must be submitted to FIFA on July 31, so the decision cannot take longer than July 14-15. They will have to meet again, this time with a clear premise on whether FIFA will accept 22 sites instead of the 20 as agreed. Morocco and Portugal seem to understand quite clearly that, as far as it depends on them, this will not happen.