N° E-ISSN : 2665-8623

Mega-sports events and legacies in developing countries: Qualitative

study of Moroccan bid for the Football World Cup

Alaâ MRANI a,*, Eric BARGET b, Sabine CHAVINIER-RELA c, Abdelmajid

IBENRISSOUL d,
a
Observatoire des Mutations Institutionnelles et Juridiques, CDES, Université de Limoges / Laboratoire Ingénierie
Scientifique des Organisations, ENCGC, Université Hassan II de Casablanca.
b
Observatoire des Mutations Institutionnelles et juridiques, CDES, Université de Limoges.
C
Observatoire des Mutations Institutionnelles et juridiques, CDES, Université de Limoges
d
Laboratoire Ingénierie Scientifique des Organisations, ENCGC, Université Hassan II de Casablanca.

*Email : mrnalaa@gmail.com

Abstract
The emergence of issues relating to mega-events and their legacies within developing countries, prompted us to
choose the case of Morocco as a country of this category wishing to host a mega-event on its territory in order
to illustrate this debate, and this through a qualitative analysis aimed at studying the perception of Moroccan
decision-makers who are members of the country's bidding committee to organize the football world cup. The
results obtained will contribute to the construction of a model specific to this category of country.
Keywords: Mega-events, developing countries, legacy, well-being.

INTRODUCTION:

Mega-events have become one of the most debated topics among academics, given their multidimensional
nature and the issues that arise from them. Perceived as the engine of economic and social progress, the political
context also lends itself to it. They provide a long-term course that is difficult to define even by public decision-
makers. Hence their enthusiasm for joining large bidding campaigns which symbolize a vision for the future.
This also raises multiple managerial issues in their organization on and for the host territories.

In pursuit of the legacies generated by mega-events, primarily the economic benefits as well as capital
associated with mega-events, industrialized and developing countries are increasingly competing to host them
(Cornelissen 2004). This euphoria seen especially among developing nations has tended to overshadow the
challenges posed by organizing such events, especially for countries already facing considerable socio-
economic inequalities (Harris 2011).
However, despite the apparent intensity of efforts by developing countries to host such sporting events, their
motivations for organizing remain less clear (Baumann et Matheson 2013). In addition, the experience of
hosting mega-events in developing countries promises to be very different from that of developed countries
(Matheson et Baade 2005), whether in terms of perception, decision criteria or wanted legacies.
In addition, our research attempts to enrich the theoretical deficit observed in the literature focused on mega-
events and their legacies in the context of developing countries, with Morocco as an example and this by
N° E-ISSN : 2665-8623

studying the perception of decision-makers of applications. Moroccan to host the FIFA World Cup in relation to
the aforementioned concepts.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

This exploratory study opted for a qualitative methodology making possible the collect of richer data since the
cases in which it is interested are smaller samples studied in depth (Deslauriers 1991) in order to understand the
perception of mega-sports events legacies in the context of developing countries. To achieve the desired
objectives, we opted for an inductive approach through the case study.
In addition, data was collected from 6 members of Morocco's bid committee to host the World Cup, using a
semi-structured interview which is one of the most widely used methods in qualitative research. in management
sciences (Romelaer 2005). We drew on an interview guide based on the literature in the field, but focused more
around the research questions of our study, including introductory and concluding questions.
The interviews were transcribed by repeating the entire speech of the respondents, then inserted into the
NVIVO 12 software, since it is a highly recommended tool for the thematic processing and analysis of
qualitative data (Srivastava et Thomson 2009).

RESULTS:

The empirical analysis allowed us to identify characteristics specific to developing countries regarding mega-
sports events. Obviously, several reasons are often put forward as an argument behind the desire to host this
type of event, including economic, urban and social development, but political criteria take precedence as the
main criterion driving decision-making in these countries. In addition, the human dimension promises to be the
most important in countries suffering from considerable disparities in this area, a finding which is reflected in
the legacies expected following a possible organization of a mega-sports events, including the most have a more
human appeal than anything else. In this sense, two types of legacies have been identified, on the one hand
tangible legacies made up of infrastructural, tourist and economic legacies and on the other hand intangible
legacies, part of which concerns space and most of it concerns people. In addition, it has been shown that the
organization of a mega-sports event such as the FIFA World Cup in a developing country would contribute to
the improvement of all dimensions of well-being within the country. and not only the quality of life, up to
helping to reduce to some extent inequalities in well-being. Note the importance for this category of country of
properly planning the desired legacies in order to optimize the positive effects and benefit from them while
reducing the risk of negative effects.

CONCLUSION:

This study makes a considerable contribution to the understanding of mega-sports events and their different
legacies in the context of developing countries, nevertheless, we are aware of the subjectivity of the responses
collected which concern only one stakeholder of the mega-sports event. It is with this in mind that the
perception of the population that is subjected to the various legacies mentioned will also be studied in the next
stage of our research following a quantitative approach in order to arrive at the desired model specific to the
context of developing countries.