On Monday, the Saudi's Sports Authority's chairman tweeted saying that his country might not support the Moroccan bid to host the 2026 World Cup. Two days later, the Saudi ambassador to Rabat assured that such tweets shouldn't affect the diplomatic relations between the two nations. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Morocco, Abdelaziz bin Mohieddine Khoja, has finally commented on the controversy caused by the tweets of Saudi's Sports Authority's chairman. In fact, Turki al-Sheikh, tweeted Monday saying that Saudi Arabia might not support the Moroccan bid to host the 2026. «If we were asked for support, we would firstly look at what serves Saudi Arabia's best interest», he wrote, adding that «to be in the grey area is no longer acceptable to us», referring to Morocco's support for Qatar. «Saudi Arabia and Morocco have established long-standing diplomatic relations that won't be affected by this short-lived event», said the Saudi ambassador in a communiqué sent on Wednesday to Yabiladi. He added that the two nations have many things in common and that they share the same language, history, religion and civilization. Avoiding a crisis Moreover, the same source said that «the brotherly relations between the leaders of the two countries and which lasted throughout the years are becoming stronger». These good relations, according to the ambassador, are based on values and principles of solidarity and brotherhood. The Saudi diplomat did not refer to whether his country is backing the Moroccan bid or not, adding that «things have been exaggerated», referring to al-Skeikh's tweets. For the record, Saudi Arabia's Sports Authority's chairman said in another tweet that : «There are those who were mistaken in their direction … If you want support, it'll be in Riyadh. What you're doing is a waste of time…». Through his tweets, al-Sheikh was referring to Qatar, Saudi Arabia's biggest enemy. Indeed, Doha strongly supports the Moroccan bid. Last week, the Qatari Prime Minister, while visiting Rabat to attend the 7th Joint Commission, reiterated his country's will to back the Kingdom of Morocco.
