Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup after FIFA awarded the Middle Eastern country the hosting rights.
However, amid some controversy, Saudi Arabia is the only country allowed to take part in the tournament, with FIFA accusing it of “breaking rules” to make such a thing possible. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been at the forefront of changing the way World Cup awards are presented, and the governing body has many questions to answer.
In fact, it all starts in 2030 – when six countries host The Greatest Show on Earth.
Why is Saudi Arabia the only country bidding to host the 2034 World Cup?
Essentially, FIFA is said to have “twisted” the rules in order to provide a clear path for Saudi Arabia to host the 2023 World Cup. There is one rule though – Reduce the number of existing stadiums required to have a capacity of at least 40,000 people From seven to four o’clock – quite small, new york times Calling the right to host the 2030 World Cup “weird” because it directly affects Saudi Arabia.
When the 2030 World Cup was awarded to Spain, Portugal and Morocco, FIFA claimed that to commemorate the centenary of the first tournament in Uruguay, the first three games of 2030 would be held in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay respectively, after the previous three South American games. It will be held in Uruguay. Countries including Chile are also vying for the right to host. Since no football association is allowed to host consecutive World Cups, South America, Europe and Africa have all been excluded from bidding for the 2034 World Cup.
In a second “bizarre” turn by FIFA, the bid process for the 2034 World Cup has been shortened to just 25 days, giving potential bidders little time to put together their cases.
As a result, Saudi Arabia is able to compete unopposed, with no other AFC or Oceania Football Confederation countries co-bidding. The country had previously explored the possibility of working with Europe and Africa itself to launch a 2030 bid alongside Greece and Egypt, but later went it alone, announcing it had Submit a formal letter of intent to FIFA and sign a statement October 9, 2023.
Other bids that failed to materialize were from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (including Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) and a bid involving Australia – which may or may not have joined forces with the ASEAN bid .
Australia has explored the idea of ​​hosting the 2023 Women’s World Cup alongside New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore, with the 2032 Summer Olympics due to be held in Brisbane. Ultimately, the bidding came to nothing.
The World Cup in Saudi Arabia has already caused controversy over human rights abuses in the country. In addition to this, there are concerns about scheduling another game during the winter, with a date set for January 2034.
The 2034 World Cup will be the third time it will be held in Asia, following Japan and South Korea in 2002 and Qatar in 2022.
