Saudi Arabia has been confirmed in a virtual meeting of 200 FIFA member federations as the host of the 2034 World Cup. In a landmark achievement for Saudi Arabia in pursuit of realizing it’s Vision 2030 goals to create a ‘vibrant society’, a thriving economy, and an ambitious nation’, the kingdom was named the host nation for the 2034 World Cup.
Combined with its winning bid to host the Expo 2030 which will be a five-month marquis global showcase for Saudi Arabia, the confirmation of the kingdom as the 2034 World Cup host will define and expand Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic, political and economic priorities for the next decade.
The World Cup is the most watched sporting event in the world with estimated 5.4 billion television viewers tuning in for 2022 World Cup in Qatar while 3.4 million people attended the matches.
Hosting the World Cup is a unique platform that Saudi Arabia vigorously pursued over the last few years. The Kingdom expertly positioned itself to benefit from FIFA’s policy of rotating the World Cup host between its member confederations.
According to Mark Ogden of ESPN:
“When the bidding process for 2030 and 2034 was announced in Oct 2023, the FIFA Council adopted a so-called “principle of confederation rotation” to ensure that five of its six confederations — Europe (UEFA), South America (CONMEBOL), Asia (AFC), Africa (CAF) and Oceania (OFC) — would be considered as potential hosts. Concacaf, the North and Central American confederation, was omitted due to the 2026 Men’s World Cup being staged in the United States, Mexico and Canada. With Qatar hosting in 2022, Asia would ordinarily have had to wait until 2042 to host another World Cup under the terms of confederation rotation, but the decision to stage the 2030 tournament across three confederations (UEFA, CAF and CONMEBOL) suddenly pushed Oceania and Asia to the front of the line in 2034.”
“With Australia leaving the OFC for the AFC in 2006, no Oceania nation is capable of hosting a Men’s World Cup: New Zealand lacks the stadiums to do so. Australia explored a joint bid with New Zealand, but Football Australia announced it would not proceed with that proposal in Oct. 2023. A joint bid with Indonesia was also considered before the Indonesians opted to back Saudi Arabia.”
In the run-up to the vote a number of groups appealed to FIFA to disallow Saudi Arabia as host due to charges of human rights and labor abuses. Graham Dunbar in AP notes:
“The win will kick off a decade of scrutiny on Saudi 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. Amnesty International said awarding the tournament to Saudi Arabia represents “a moment of great danger” for human rights. “FIFA’s reckless decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without ensuring adequate human rights protections are in place will put many lives at risk,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Labor Rights and Sport.””
Conversely, FIFA and Saudi officials believe the 2034 tournament can accelerate change, including more freedoms and rights for women, with Infantino on Wednesday calling the World Cup a “unique catalyst for positive social change and unity.”
The SUSTG Review will report extensively on Saudi Arabia’s World Cup journey in the coming years. The infrastructure and planning required will be immense. While 2026 and 2030 World Cup tournaments will have 48 competing teams, the games will be held across multiple host countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States in 2026 and Morocco, Portugal, and Spain in 2030.
The 2034 tournament in Saudi Arabia will be the first time the 48 team format will be held in a single host country.
To read more, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
