“At the 68th congress of @FIFAcom, member countries voted in favour of North America” to host the tournament, Morocco’s committee for the 2026 games said on Twitter.

The vote at FIFA’s annual congress, held this year in Moscow, came a day before the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Morocco had hoped to become the second country in Africa to host football’s biggest competition, after South Africa in 2010.

But the vote’s result was clear: 65 votes for Morocco and 134 votes for the North American trio.

Moroccan media nevertheless congratulated Morocco on its “realistic” bid, while others called its loss a “cold shower”.

“I was sad when the winner was announced,” said former Moroccan footballer Abdelkrim El Hadrioui.

“At the same time, I wasn’t surprised because Morocco went up against the American giant, which mobilised in recent weeks to influence voters,” Hadrioui said.

Said Belkhayat, a four-time member of Morocco’s World Cup bid committee, told AFP: “Like all Moroccans, I am sad and disappointed.”

Morocco’s bid was its fifth failure, after setbacks in 2010, 2006, 1998 and 1994.

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The world’s biggest carmaker said it had identified more than 400 reports of the problem, with the bulk of them occurring in Japan and North America.

No accidents or injuries have been reported over the defect, Toyota said.

The recall comes weeks after Toyota halted the sale of some car models in the US over problematic seat heaters.

It also deals a blow to the Japanese carmaker, which has been seen its reputation suffer following a series of mass recalls in recent years.

The latest recall affects the current generation Prius sedans made since March 2009.

The Prius was first released in 1997 and is one of the most popular hybrid vehicles on the market.

The new software problem can set off warning lights, and will “probably cause the vehicle to enter a failsafe” mode, which will see the car’s driving power reduced.

“In limited cases, the hybrid system might shut down and the vehicle will stop, perhaps while being driven,” Toyota said.

In 2010, Toyota’s share price was hit after more than 10 million of its vehicles were recalled over unintended acceleration issues.

Despite its problems, Toyota is forecasting a record profit for this year because of the effects of the weaker Japanese currency, which makes its cars cheaper abroad.

Last year, it was the top-selling global carmaker, with worldwide deliveries rising 2.4 per cent to nearly 10 million vehicles.

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