Craig Foster concedes Australia’s hopes of hosting 2034 World Cup are slim after Saudi bid
Australia’s chances of hosting the men’s World Cup in just over a decade are dwindling as Socceroos legend Craig Foster shares his thoughts on Saudi’s ‘sportwashing of the kingdom’s reputation’.
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Socceroos legend Craig Foster says Australia’s hopes of hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup are quickly dwindling with the AFC throwing its support behind the controversial bid from Saudi Arabia.
Football Australia CEO James Johnson talked up the prospect of a 2034 bid in the afterglow of the record-breaking FIFA Women’s World Cup, co-hosted with New Zealand this July and August.
But this week that hope was all but dashed by the FIFA decision to open up the 2034 bid to Asia and Oceania. Shortly after, the AFC declared total support for Saudi Arabia.
The haste with which the Saudi Arabia declaration was made suggests there was ever little hope for Australia.
That feeling is increased given that any potential bidder for 2034 has been given less than a month to declare interest.
The timeline is significant as this December Saudi host the FIFA Club World Cup – and no other definitive rivals would allow for a FIFA/Saudi football celebration.
Foster said the move for Saudi to bid for the tournament did not bode well for Football Australia.
“Optimism is not high after last week’s announcement nevertheless I do not want to preclude any chance as we would be thrilled to host the male event,” Foster said.
“Perhaps FA will be seeking to try to parlay their support for Saudi as host into hosting rights to other events.
“Unfortunately, if as is likely Saudi do host 2034, the tournament could not return to Asia for at least 12-16 years, leaving us with the mid to late 40s as the next window.”
The Australian Government would be relying on Football Australia to make an accurate read on chances of success before lodging a bid – especially as the President of the AFC has shown public support for the Saudi bid, Foster said.
“The financial and political clout of Saudi Arabia is in full evidence with both 2030 and 2034,” Foster said.
“The centenary World Cup in 2030 was fully expected to be returned to South America, in commemoration of the first event in Uruguay, however the Saudis, through a years long program of economic support and collaboration with the African confederation and clearly within South America, have been able to broker a three confederation World Cup,” Foster said.
“This level of influence is unprecedented.
“Saudi have been spending billions to pay obscene sums to the world’s best players and for a range of sports to arrive at this exact outcome: power, influence and control of global sport
AFC are in total hock to Saudi financially and politically – needing Saudi finances to rescue them after the collapse of an ill-judged commercial agreement with Hong Kong based Football Marketing Asia.
‘Saudi Arabia’s football federation has signed a long list of memorandums of understanding with counterparts in Asia, Africa and elsewhere in the past year.’
— Craig Foster (@Craig_Foster) October 5, 2023
Saudi now own Infantino, the FIFA Council and, effectively, football.
Human rights be damned. https://t.co/o8xnOrgxrH
Within hours, AFC had signed a new contract with a Dubai based Asia Football Group.
It has left questions unanswered about the total dominance by the Saudis – the AFC refused to even answer how many matches their representatives attended in his own member association during the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Foster said Saudi’s influence over the game was “shocking” as it came with no strings attached – proving that the game and it’s players are for sale at the right price.
“Let us be clear in that despite some welcome reforms, Saudi Arabia ranks at the very basement of human and civil rights benchmarks including for example Freedom House which lists the ‘pervasive surveillance, criminalisation of dissent, appeals to sectarianism and ethnicity’, and where ‘women and religious minorities face extensive discrimination in law and in practice’,” Foster said.
“Last year alone 81 people were executed in one day and human rights groups raise serious concerns about the right to a fair trial and proven guilt of these people.”
A legend of the game Foster is all for football being played in every country around the world – but that all should be able to participate.
“This is not the case in Saudi Arabia and therefore the vast investment in football comes attached with harms to people through a sportwashing of the kingdom’s reputation,” Foster said.
“Football has the power to force change, as was demonstrated in Qatar although only under duress and crisis management, and it should use this power to ensure that if Saudi wants to be a player in the world’s largest game, reform is a fundamental requirement.”
But Foster said he was far from confident that FIFA were strong or principled enough to enforce this change.
Australia has long been held in apparent contempt by some in the AFC, with even chatter – especially in The Gulf – as to whether they should be expelled.
The reason? The Socceroos are too successful in reaching World Cups.
But this time it is not just Aussie fans who have been let down.
Just a couple of weeks ago at the United Nations in New York, Indonesian leaders believed they were encouraged to consider moving for 2034 with neighbours in ASEAN when they met FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
They too have been slapped down by Saudi influence. The only hope now? European elites from the Premier League, the Bundesliga and others were up in arms, alongside Human Rights campaigners, at the choice of Qatar.
Again Australia were bidding for 2022.
So a combination of these powerful groups are the only hope of derailing the Saudi juggernaut but they will get little comfort from the AFC.
There is no way the European leagues would want another mid season World Cup- nor would their broadcast partners.
When the same groups rose up against Qatar, the AFC president disappointingly said: “The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.”
Unless there is more uproar this caravan is Riyadh bound.
Now it is time not just for Australia but also the other powerful nations in East Asia to decide whether they are prepared to sit quietly on their hands or whether enough is enough.
Originally published as Craig Foster concedes Australia’s hopes of hosting 2034 World Cup are slim after Saudi bid
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