{"id":345112,"date":"2026-07-23T22:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/345112\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:27:11","slug":"ismail-elfath-morocco-has-what-it-takes-to-fight-for-the-2030-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/345112\/","title":{"rendered":"Ismail Elfath: Morocco Has What It Takes to Fight for the 2030 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Casablanca \u2013 Moroccan-<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moroccoworldnews.com\/2026\/07\/329667\/morocco-born-referee-ismail-elfath-performs-sujood-after-world-cup-semifinal\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">born<\/a> American referee Ismail Elfath believes Morocco has what it takes to challenge for the FIFA World Cup title in 2030, saying the Atlas Lions\u2019 recent success is the result of years of planning rather than a surprise rise.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking in an interview with Saudi newspaper Arriyadiyah, Elfath praised Morocco\u2019s long-term football project following the national team\u2019s strong performances at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe results Morocco are achieving are no longer surprising,\u201d Ellfath said. \u201cThey are the product of work that began more than ten years ago through a clear vision focused on investing in infrastructure and developing talent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added that the foundations laid over the past decade have transformed Morocco into one of the strongest teams on the international stage<\/p>\n<p>Morocco will be \u2018a strong presence\u2019 in 2030<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am confident Morocco will be a strong presence at the 2030 World Cup. Why not compete for the title?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Elfath, who was born in Casablanca before moving to the United States as a teenager, is one of the most respected referees in world football. Despite representing the U.S. internationally, he has maintained close ties to Morocco and previously worked with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation as part of its referee development program.<\/p>\n<p>His remarks come as Morocco continues to establish itself among football\u2019s elite following a series of impressive performances on the global stage.<\/p>\n<p>The Atlas Lions reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, continuing the momentum built over recent years as Morocco prepares to co-host the 2030 tournament alongside Spain and Portugal.<\/p>\n<p>For Elfath, the country\u2019s continued progress is the outcome of a long-term strategy that has strengthened both player development and football infrastructure, putting Morocco in a position to compete with the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Casablanca \u2013 Moroccan-born American referee Ismail Elfath believes Morocco has what it takes to challenge for the FIFA&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[40],"tags":[1154,43743,166411,165,9722],"class_list":["post-345112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-morocco","tag-atlas-lions","tag-fifa-world-cup-2030","tag-ismail-elfath","tag-morocco","tag-referee"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116971650698905858","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}