'It's Africa's turn!' The narratives and legitimations surrounding the Moroccan and South African bids for the 2006 and 2010 FIFA finals

Abstract

African countries are increasingly engaging in bidding wars to host sport mega-events. To date, however, not much analysis has been done of African countries' involvement in the growing global mega-events enterprise. Little is also known of the broader political character and consequences of events and bid campaigns in the international system. This article investigates these aspects through a comparative analysis of the bid processes of South Africa and Morocco for the 2006 and 2010 Soccer World Cup. It explores the internal (domestic) and external (international) elements of their legitimating narratives and promotional rhetoric and how these played out in their international relations. Both countries made extensive use of an ideological and emotive posturing of 'Africa'. Against the background of the generally tenuous position the continent occupies in the wider international system, and of its overwhelmingly negative representation, the two countries' replication of neocolonial ties and use of postcolonial rhetoric both aided and hampered their bid campaigns. Overall, competitions to host mega-events occur on an unequal basis which, for African countries, is worsened by very unfavourable positioning in the international arena.