FIFA World Cup: 3 countries to host in 2030, Saudi Arabia in 2034 – National
Saudi Arabia has been officially confirmed by FIFA as the host of the 2034 men’s World Cup, giving the oil-rich kingdom its biggest-ever boost to global sports spending under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia’s bid was the only candidate and was applauded by FIFA’s more than 200 member federations. They participated remotely in an online meeting held in Zurich on Wednesday by the president of the football body, Gianni Infantino.
“The vote in Congress is loud and clear,” Infantino said, asking officials in the display bank to clap their hands above their heads to show their support.
The decision was combined with the confirmation of the sole candidate to host the 2030 World Cup. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will co-host the six-nation project, while Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will each get one of the 104 games.
The South American tie will mark the centenary of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930.
The decisions cap a largely opaque 15-month bidding process that Infantino helped steer to Saudi Arabia without a rival candidate, no questions asked, and which rights groups warned would put the lives of migrant workers at risk.
FIFA and Saudi Arabia officials have said hosting the 2034 tournament could accelerate change, including greater freedoms and rights for women.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic and current affairs headlines delivered to your inbox once a day.
The fast track to victory became clear last year when FIFA adopted a three-continent hosting plan for the 2030 World Cup. This meant that only football federations in Asia and Oceania could take part in the 2034 competition, and FIFA gave them less than four weeks to announce. Only Saudi Arabia did it.
Saudi Arabia’s victory will launch a decade-long investigation into labor laws and the treatment of workers, mainly from South Asia, needed to help build and upgrade 15 stadiums, plus hotels and transport networks, ahead of the 104-game tournament.
One of the stadiums is planned to be 350 meters (yards) above the ground in Neom, a futuristic city that does not yet exist, while the other, named after the crown prince, is planned to be on top of a 200-meter cliff near Riyadh.
During the bid campaign, FIFA accepted a limited investigation into Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, which has been widely criticized at the United Nations this year.
Saudi Arabia and international rights groups and activists have warned FIFA that it has failed to learn from Qatar’s much-criticised preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.
International rights groups said in a statement that FIFA had made a “reckless decision” to approve Saudi Arabia without public assurances to protect human rights.
Amnesty International’s head of labor rights and sport, Steve Cockburn, said: “At every stage of this bidding process, FIFA has misrepresented its commitment to human rights.”
The kingdom plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on World Cup-related projects as part of the crown prince’s sweeping Vision 2030 project, which aims to modernize Saudi society and the economy. It is based on sports spending by the Sovereign Wealth Fund, a $900 billion sovereign wealth fund he oversees. Critics called it a “sporting wash” of the royal’s reputation.
The prince, known as MBS, has had a close working relationship with Infantino since 2017 – aligning himself with the organizer of the sport’s most watched event, rather than directly confronting the established system as he did with the disruptive LIV Golf project.
The result for Saudi Arabia and FIFA was smooth progress to victory on Wednesday, with limited support from soccer officials, albeit some from female internationals.
Saudi Arabia’s steady flow of money into international football is set to increase.
FIFA has created a new and higher World Cup sponsor category for state oil company Aramco, and Saudi funding is set to fund the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, a pet project for Infantino.
North American soccer body CONCACAF has signed a multi-year deal with PIF, Saudi stadiums host Super Cup games for Italy and Spain, and some 50 FIFA member federations have signed working agreements with their Saudi counterparts.
Lavish spending by PIF-owned Saudi clubs in buying and paying players, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane, has brought European football hundreds of millions of dollars over the past two years.
This influence could be key in negotiations to agree on which months the 2034 World Cup will be held. The November-December slot taken by Qatar to avoid extreme heat in mid-summer in 2022 is complicated by the holy month of Ramadan in 2034 and the hosting of the multi-sport Asian Games in Riyadh in mid-December.
January 2034 could be a better option for European clubs and leagues after the International Olympic Committee said there were several problems with the Salt Lake Winter Games opening on February 10, 2034. Dealing with Saudi Arabia to host the new Esports Olympics.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
English