Morocco sought to boost its chances by emphasizing its proximity to southern Europe, and promised that the proceeds from the tournament would benefit African football for decades to come.

In the event, it came second to winner South Africa, securing the votes of 10 members of the 24-strong FIFA executive committee.

Without mentioning last year’s bomb attacks in Casablanca, the head of Morocco’s delegation, Saad Kettani, played down security concerns, saying “Morocco does not joke with security. Security will be at its highest level.”

He added that “Hosting the 2010 World Cup finals would be a consecration of our status as a continent, as a juncture of continents.”

Morocco also stressed the expertise of its bid committee, stuffed with foreign officials with extensive experience of hosting previous World Cups.

But Morocco’s putative trump card was its proposal to use some of the proceeds from the tournament to promote football on the African continent, especially among children and women.

And the president of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, addressed the audience to lend his support to the bid and to the football development project, called ‘Football Without Frontiers.’

Former Spanish prime minister Felipe Gonzalez also spoke up for Morocco, saying its bid came at “an important, troubled time.” Morocco, he said, would host “a World Cup of peace.”

Morocco produced messages of support from football stars, including three-time World Player of the Year Zinedine Zidane, the French international of Algerian descent, and French actress Isabelle Adjani.

Closing the presentation, Prince Moulay Rachid, brother of King Muhammad VI, read a message from the king urging FIFA to choose the nation which lost out by a single vote to the United States in the race for the 1994 finals. It was not enough.