Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has voiced his disapproval at joint bids for World Cup games, saying the tournament ought to be held in one country.
The 82-year-old said the world football’s governing body is only interested in co-hosted World Cups because it wants to increase the tournaments to 48 teams.
FIFA is set to make a decision on the 2026 World Cup host on 13 June, with only two bids on the table.
North African country Morocco hopes to beat a joint bid by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Should Morocco bid carry the day, the country will become only the second African country to host the World Cup.
Scores of African countries have declared their support for Morocco’s bid, condemning threats by Donald Trump to act on countries that vote against the joint U.S., Canada and Mexico bid.
The World Cup has only been staged in more than one country once when it was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan in 2002, a tournament Blatter says was a “nightmare in organisation”.
He said joint bids were denied from Libya and Tunisia for the 2010 tournament, and Spain and Portugal, and Belgium and the Netherlands for 2018, because of a decision from FIFA not to consider a “combined organisation”.
Blatter’s 17-year reign as FIFA president ended in 2015 December after the world body’s ethics committee banned him for eight years, later reduced to six, over ethics breaches when he was found to have made a £1.3m “disloyal payment” to ex-Uefa boss Michel Platini.
