Opinion: Tri-continent World Cup all about giving the 2034 tournament to Saudi Arabia
The wheels are turning in favor of a return to the Middle East
The 2030 World Cup, which will mark the tournament’s centennial, will be contested on three continents after Morocco, Portugal and Spain won the race to host the 48-team tournament — with a little help from Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
The three South American nations will host just the opening three matches. Spain, Portugal and Morocco will host the remainder of the tournament.
But buried in FIFA’s shock announcement was this paragraph:
“It was also agreed that in line with the principle of confederation rotation and of securing the best possible hosting conditions for the tournaments, the bidding processes for both the 2030 and 2034 editions be conducted concurrently, with FIFA member associations from the territories of the AFC and the OFC invited to bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2034. The minimum hosting requirements, as previously approved by the FIFA Council on June 23, 2023 in respect of the FIFA World Cup 2030, will also form the basis of this bidding process, with the hosts to be appointed in a separate FIFA Congress.”
Translation: This opens the door for FIFA to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, who had recently floated a plan to co-host the competition alongside Egypt and Greece. Australia, who co-hosted the Women’s World Cup with New Zealand this past summer, has said it will bid on the 2034 World Cup as well.
In fact, by grouping three confederations together in 2030 — Africa, Europe and South America — it opens the door for Asia and Oceania to host in 2034. Just like that, South America gave up on its dream to host in 2030 in return for just three games — and it reeks of another backroom deal at FIFA’s opulent headquarters in Zurich.
There’s no doubt the Saudis will be awarded the 2034 World Cup. Saudi Arabia, it should be noted, has been accused of everything from sportswashing to ruining European soccer after luring some of its top talent during the recent transfer period with big-money contracts. Those stars include Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Neymar.
It’s no coincidence then that the Middle Eastern kingdom announced it would bid to host the 2034 World Cup within minutes of FIFA’s 1930 plans.
“Led by the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, the bid for 2034 intends to deliver a world-class tournament and will draw inspiration from Saudi Arabia's ongoing social and economic transformation and the country's deep-rooted passion for football,” Saudi FA said in a statement. “Saudi Arabia’s inaugural FIFA World Cup bid is backed by the country’s growing experience of hosting world-class football events and its ongoing plans to welcome fans across the world to the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup.”
Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa backed the Saudi bid: “We strongly believe it paves the way for a more equitable opportunity for all confederations to bid for, and host, the prestigious FIFA World Cup — the pinnacle of world men’s football.”
Many questions remain. Above all, will it be, like Qatar, another winter World Cup?
It appears that the era of solo World Cup host nations is over. The tournament, now at 48 teams, is just too massive for any single country to host.
When Russia was awarded the World Cup in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, it became evident that corruption had marred the process. Proof emerged and FIFA changed the process (once in the hands of a few to a full vote of all member nations) in an effort to appear more transparent when awarding future World Cups.
Unfortunately, the past few days shows that the little trust anyone may have ever had in FIFA regarding transparency is gone.