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Saudi Arabia has been officially confirmed by FIFA as the host of the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup, 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 hailed with the applause of more than 200 FIFA member federations. They participated remotely in an online meeting organized in Zurich on Wednesday by the football body’s president, Gianni Infantino.
“The congressional vote is loud and clear,” said Infantino, who had asked officials on a series of screens to clap at head level to show their support.
The decision was combined with the approval of the only candidate to host the 2030 World Cup. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will co-host a six-nation project, and Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will each have 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 15-month, mostly opaque candidacy process that Infantino helped steer to Saudi Arabia without a rival candidate, without answering questions, and that 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.
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Last year, FIFA paved a quick path to victory when FIFA accepted the plan to host the 2030 World Cup on three continents. This meant that only football federations from Asia and Oceania were eligible for the 2034 competition, with FIFA giving them less than four weeks to declare. Only Saudi Arabia did it.
Saudi Arabia’s victory will begin a decade of scrutiny over labor laws and the treatment of workers, mostly from South Asia, needed to help build and upgrade 15 stadiums, plus hotels and transportation networks ahead of the tournament. of 104 games.
One of the stadiums is planned to be 350 meters (yards) above the ground in Neom, a futuristic city that does not yet exist, and another named after the crown prince is designed to be atop a 200-meter cliff. near Riyadh.
During the bid campaign, FIFA accepted limited scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record that was widely criticized this year at the United Nations.
Saudi and international groups and activists have warned FIFA that it has not learned lessons from Qatar’s much-criticized preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA made a “reckless decision” by approving Saudi Arabia without obtaining public guarantees to protect human rights, an international collective of human rights groups said in a statement.
“At every stage of this bid process, FIFA has shown that its commitment to human rights is a sham,” said Amnesty International’s director of labor rights and sport, Steve Cockburn.
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 that aims to modernize Saudi society and economy. At its core is sports spending by the $900 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 established close working ties with Infantino since 2017, aligning himself with the organizer of the most-watched sporting event rather than directly confronting the established system as he did with the disruptive LIV Golf project.
The result for Saudi Arabia and FIFA has been a smooth march towards Wednesday’s victory with limited reaction from football officials, but also from international players.
The constant flow of Saudi money into international football will increase.
FIFA created a new, higher category of World Cup sponsor for state oil company Aramco, and Saudi funding is expected to finance the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, which is a pet project of Infantino.
North American soccer body CONCACAF signed a multi-year agreement with the PIF, Saudi stadiums host Super Cup matches for Italy and Spain, and nearly 50 FIFA member federations have signed working agreements with their Saudi counterparts.
The lavish spending of PIF-owned Saudi clubs over the past two years buying and paying players – including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mané – brought hundreds of millions of dollars into European football.
That influence could be key in the talks to agree on which months to play the 2034 World Cup. The period from November to December adopted by Qatar in 2022 to avoid extreme summer heat is complicated in 2034 by the holy month of Ramadan until mid-December. and Riyadh will host the multi-sport Asian Games.
Still, January 2034 could be an option, and probably a better one for European clubs and leagues, after the International Olympic Committee said it saw few problems with it coinciding with the opening of the Salt Lake Winter Games on February 10. 2034. The IOC also has an important commercial commitment. agreement with Saudi Arabia to host the new electronic sports Olympic Games.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
