FIFA names Saudi Arabia as 2034 World Cup host; three nations to co-host 2030 edition

Zurich: Saudi Arabia has been officially confirmed by FIFA as host of the 2034 World Cup in men’s soccer, giving the oil-rich kingdom its biggest prize yet for massive spending on global sports driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Saudi bid was the only candidate and was acclaimed by the applause of more than 200 FIFA member federations. They took part remotely in an online meeting hosted in Zurich on Wednesday by the soccer body’s president Gianni Infantino.

Fans celebrate as Saudi Arabia is announced as the host nation for the World Cup in 2034.Credit: Getty Images for Saudi Arabian Football Federation

“The vote of the congress is loud and clear,” said Infantino, who had asked officials on a bank of screens to clap their hands at head level to show their support.

The decision was combined with approving the only candidate to host the 2030 World Cup. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will co-host in a six-nation project, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay each getting one of the 104 games.

The South American connection will mark the centenary of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930.

The decisions complete a mostly opaque 15-month bid process which Infantino helped steer toward Saudi Arabia without a rival candidate, without taking questions, and which human rights groups warn will put the lives of migrant workers at risk.

FIFA and Saudi officials have said hosting the 2034 tournament can accelerate change, including more freedoms and rights for women.

A fast-track path to victory was cleared last year by FIFA accepting the three-continent hosting plan for the 2030 World Cup. It meant only soccer federations in Asia and Oceania were eligible for the 2034 contest, and FIFA gave them less than four weeks to declare. Only Saudi Arabia did.

Saudi Arabia’s win will kick off a decade of scrutiny on labor laws and treatment of workers mostly 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 metres above the ground in Neom – a futuristic city that does not yet exist – and another named for the crown prince is designed to be atop a 200-metre cliff near Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia, in 2018.Credit: AP

During the bid campaign, FIFA has accepted limited scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record that was widely criticised this year at the United Nations.

Saudi and international rights groups and activists warned FIFA it has not learned the lessons of Qatar’s much-criticised preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.

FIFA made a “reckless decision” to approve Saudi Arabia without getting public assurances to protect human rights, an international collective of rights groups said in a statement.

“At every stage of this bidding process, FIFA has shown its commitment to human rights to be a sham,” said Amnesty International’s head of labor rights and sport, Steve Cockburn.

The kingdom plans to spend tens of billion of dollars on projects related to the World Cup as part of the crown prince’s sweeping Vision 2030 project that aims to modernise Saudi society and economy. At its core is spending on sports by the $US900 billion sovereign wealth operation, the Public Investment Fund, which he oversees. Critics have called it “sportswashing” of the kingdom’s reputation.

The prince, known as MBS, has built close working ties to Infantino since 2017 – aligning with the organiser of sport’s most-watched event rather than directly confronting the established system as it did with the disruptive LIV Golf project.

The result for Saudi Arabia and FIFA has been smooth progress toward the win on Wednesday with limited pushback from soccer officials, though some from women international players.

AP

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