'Morocco Club World Cup not threatened by Ebola outbreak'

The 2014 FIFA Club World Cup, to be held in Morocco, will not be affected by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the country's ambassador to Argentina said.

"The doubt only exists in the press. Neither (world soccer body) FIFA nor the organisers in Morocco ever had a doubt," ambassador Fouad Yazourh said in an interview in sports daily Ole Thursday, reports Xinhua.

"In fact, there have been no cases of Ebola in my country. There are cases some thousands of kilometres away. But people don't know geography," the envoy of the North African nation said.

Still, Yazourh tried to calm fears, saying "in Morocco, we are taking preventive measures, due to the human ties we have with that geographic region, given that our airline is the only one that flies to those countries. And I repeat, we are taking steps so that no cases emerge in our country".

According to the latest situation report from the World Health Organization (WHO), the outbreak continues to be largely confined to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Football fans travelling from Buenos Aires to Morocco to watch Argentine team San Lorenzo compete in the international event will not have to take any special health measures or steps of any kind, said the envoy.

The Club World Cup, which pits the champion teams from each of the six continental confederations, takes place Dec 10 to 20 in the cities of Marrakesh and Rabat.

Teams that have already qualified include Spain's Real Madrid, Argentina's San Lorenzo, Mexico's Cruz Azul, Australia's Auckland City and the host country's Moghreb Tetouan.

The team representing Asia is yet to de defined.