Saudi Arabia emerged as the likely winner in the abbreviated race to host the 2034 soccer World Cup on Tuesday after Soccer Australia announced it would not bid for the tournament. The decision removed what was the only potential obstacle to Saudi Arabia’s plan to bring the world’s most-watched sporting event back to the Gulf.
Australia announced its decision just hours before a deadline set by soccer’s governing body, FIFA, for nations to express interest in hosting the World Cup. Saudi Arabia made clear its intention to bid weeks ago, and FIFA rules – and powerful allies – have ensured the kingdom will prevail.
In a sudden and unexpected move earlier this month, FIFA announced a truncated bidding timetable for the 2034 tournament, telling interested nations they had just 25 days to formally express their interest and provide extensive statements in support. government for a multi-city, 48-team tournament that typically requires billions of dollars and years of planning.
The decision to shorten that timetable to just a few weeks was made public on the same day FIFA officially announced the 2030 World Cup would be shared by countries in Europe, Africa and South America. The football associations only learned of the possibility a week before the decision was confirmed.
FIFA’s move to fast-track bidding for 2034 surprised many as it comes 11 years before the tournament is scheduled to begin and a full three years before the 2034 host is supposed to be decided. FIFA also said only Asian bids and Oceania, two of football’s six regional confederations, could be considered for selection, and on Tuesday night it confirmed that Saudi Arabia was the sole bidder.
Saudi Arabia had for years made public its desire to host the World Cup and moved quickly to secure the tournament after FIFA set the rules this month. Its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, announced the kingdom’s intention to bid within minutes of FIFA announcing the official timetable, and within hours the Saudis had received the support of its top leader of Asian football, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain. , who announced that “the entire Asian football family” – a group that includes Australia – would “stand united in support” of Saudi Arabia’s bid.
Australian officials concluded they would have overcommitted if they tried to challenge Saudi Arabia to secure the votes of a majority of FIFA’s 211 confederations. Saudi Arabia has signed deals in the past year with several FIFA member states, committing millions of dollars to projects across Asia and paying close attention to Africa, where it signed an agreement with the regional governing body and sponsored a new tournament.
The soccer leaders’ friendship ranged from the high-profile to the personal: At an event for soccer officials in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, earlier this month, organizers announced that the Saudi Arabian soccer federation would pick up the daily laundry for the representatives.
With little hope of countering the influence and support of the Saudis, the Australian federation announced it was pulling out and instead pursuing other competitions.
“We wish FIFA and the potential hosts of the 2034 FIFA World Cup the best of luck for the good of the game and for everyone who loves our sport,” the Australian federation said in a statement on its website.
The final announcement of the 2034 host will be made in the fourth quarter of 2024, FIFA announced.
Saudi Arabia has evolved in just a few years from an international backwater in sports to one of its major players, using its vast oil wealth to bring in top stars to play in its cash-rich soccer league. secured the biggest fights in boxing. and strike a deal to effectively take control of world golf. All the investments are seen as part of a broader plan to change perceptions of the kingdom on the world stage and diversify its economy away from oil.
But the invitation to the World Cup – and the scrutiny it brings – would be among his boldest ventures yet.
Neighbor Qatar has spent more than a decade in the global spotlight after winning the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, becoming the first Arab and Muslim country to host the event.
This tournament was not without controversy. For years, the build-up has been marked by criticism of the small gas-rich state’s treatment of the millions of migrant workers needed to rebuild the country ahead of the World Cup. Saudi Arabia, though much more established on the world stage than Qatar, is sure to face similar scrutiny.
Human rights groups wasted little time in criticizing FIFA. Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, said FIFA had announced as early as 2016 that “human rights due diligence will be conducted before future World Cups.”
“FIFA has effectively removed any pressure on Saudi Arabia and MBS to implement human rights reforms, squandering the power for labor, press freedom and civil society protection that exists because Saudi Arabia is desperate to host the World Cup,” Ms. Worden said in an email.
However, FIFA’s bid requirements were such that they almost matched Saudi Arabia’s current state of preparedness. The requirement that countries bidding for the 2034 World Cup must already have at least seven stadiums fit for the tournament has been reduced to four, the exact number available in Saudi Arabia.
As Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder in FIFA’s fast-tracking process, it will also avoid the type of high-stakes politicization that plunged the organization into reputation-damaging corruption claims in 2010, when it simultaneously ran matches for the 2018 events and of 2022. secured by Russia and Qatar.
Australia, one of the losing bidders at the time, had spent more than $30 million in much of the public money and secured just one vote, a result that scarred football and the political officials involved. The memories of this bitter and costly failure led to the decision to leave this time.
