Italy, America, France, and then a combined bid from Japan and Korea - these were the last four bidders to be given the nomination to host the World Cup.

Japan and the USA may not have the footballing pedigree of France or Italy, but all these countries have high global profiles.

This is perhaps why Morocco's bid was unlikely to succeed. For although the general feeling was that 2006 was Africa's turn, Morocco were very much in South Africa's shadow.

And yet Morocco is arguably a more stable country than South Africa with a low crime rate - and the bid had a great deal going for it.

Morocco facts

Population: 30,000,000 Capital city: Rabat International honours: African Nations Cup winners 1976 Top teams: Raja Casablanca, WAC Casablanca, FAR Rabat

For one, it is ideally located - it may be in Africa, but it is also very close to the superpowers of Europe.

This has the added benefit of kick-off times that would suit the lucrative European television market.

And Morocco stands up well as a tourist destination with well-known cities including Casablanca, Marrakech and Tangiers.

Morocco cannot compete with England, Germany or Brazil as a footballing nation - but they do have a tradition of football and the national team are currently one of Africa's most skilful outfits.

Casablanca is a popular tourist destination

Morocco billed their bid as African/Arabic, highlighting the fact that neither of these regions have ever hosted the World Cup.

Morocco have experience holding an international tournament on a small scale in the shape of the King Hassan II tournament which they have put on for the last few years ahead of the major summer competitions.

The stadium in Casablanca where the tournament takes place is impressive but one of the weaknesses of the bid was the fact that most of the proposed grounds have not yet been built - and many will have small capacities.

There is real passion for football in Morocco

If successful, the Moroccan bidders were proposing to keep ticket prices low enough for North African fans to be able to afford them, and they would also establish multi-national organising committees.

Certainly Morocco was a more viable proposition than Brazil - but ultimately their bid always looked set to wilt in the shade of South Africa and the big guns of Europe.

It is questionable whether Morocco would have been in the reckoning if they were the only African bidders, but as it is they were distant fourth favourites.