Saudi Arabia Is Set to Be Sole Bidder for 2034 World Cup
Saudi Arabia emerged because the doubtless winner within the abbreviated race to host soccer’s World Cup in 2034 on Tuesday after Australia’s soccer federation introduced that it could not bid for the event. The determination most probably eliminated the one hurdle in the way in which of Saudi Arabia’s plan to convey the world’s most-watched sporting occasion again to the Gulf.
Australia introduced its determination hours earlier than a deadline set by soccer’s governing physique, FIFA, for nations to precise an curiosity in internet hosting the World Cup. Saudi Arabia made clear its intent to bid weeks in the past, and FIFA’s guidelines — and highly effective allies — have all however assured that the dominion will prevail.
In a sudden and stunning transfer earlier this month, FIFA introduced a truncated bidding timeline for the 2034 event, telling nations that they’d solely 25 days to formally specific their curiosity and supply intensive declarations of presidency backing for a 48-team, multicity occasion that often requires billions of {dollars} and years of planning.
The determination to shorten that timeline to solely a matter of weeks was made public on the identical day that FIFA formally introduced its 2030 World Cup could be shared by international locations in Europe, Africa and South America. Soccer federations solely came upon concerning the risk every week earlier than the choice was confirmed.
FIFA’s transfer to hurry up the bidding for 2034 shocked many, coming 11 years earlier than the scheduled begin of the event and a full three years earlier than the 2034 host was speculated to be determined. FIFA additionally stated solely bidders from Asia and Oceania, two of soccer’s six regional confederations, could possibly be thought-about for choice.
Saudi Arabia, which had for years been public about its need to host the World Cup, moved quick to safe the event after FIFA set the principles this month. Its de facto chief, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, declared the dominion’s intent to bid inside minutes of FIFA’s announcement of the official timeline, and inside hours the Saudis had obtained the backing of Asian soccer’s prime chief, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain, who introduced that “the entire Asian football family” — a bunch that features Australia — would “stand united in support” of the Saudi bid.
In the face of that support, Australian officials concluded they would have been overmatched if they challenged Saudi Arabia to secure the votes of the majority of FIFA’s 211 federations. Saudi Arabia has signed agreements in the past year with scores of FIFA’s member nations, committing millions of dollars to projects across Asia and lavishing attention on Africa, where it signed an agreement with the regional governing body and sponsored a new tournament.
Its courtship of soccer leaders has ranged from the high profile to the personal: At an event for soccer officials in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, earlier this month, for example, organizers made it known that the Saudi Arabian soccer federation would be picking up the daily laundry tab for delegates.
With little hope of countering the Saudis’ influence and public support, the Australian federation announced it was dropping out and would instead pursue other events.
“We wish FIFA and the eventual hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2034 the greatest success for the good of the game and for everyone who loves our sport,” the Australian federation stated in an announcement on its web site.
Saudi Arabia has in just a few years grown from an international backwater in sports to one of its major players, using its vast oil wealth to bring top stars to play in its cash-drenched soccer league; safe the most important fights in boxing; and strike a deal to effectively seize control of global golf. All of the investments are viewed are part of a broader plan to alter perceptions of the kingdom on the global stage, and diversify its economy away from oil.
But inviting the World Cup — and the scrutiny it brings — would be among its boldest ventures yet.
Its neighbor Qatar spent more than a decade in the global spotlight after winning the hosting rights to the 2022 World Cup, becoming the first Arab and Muslim country to stage the event.
That tournament was not without controversy. For years, the buildup was marked by criticism of the tiny gas-rich state’s treatment of the millions of migrant laborers required to remake the country ahead of the World Cup. Saudi Arabia, while far more established on the world stage than Qatar was, is certain to face similar scrutiny.
Human rights groups wasted little time in criticizing FIFA. Minky Worden, the director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, said FIFA had announced as long ago as 2016 that “human rights due diligence would be conducted in advance of future World Cups.”
“FIFA has effectively eliminated any pressure for Saudi Arabia and M.B.S. to implement human rights reforms, squandering the leverage for labor, press freedom, and civil society protections that exists because Saudi Arabia desperately wants to host the World Cup,” Ms. Worden said in an email.
Yet FIFA’s bid requirements were such that they almost matched Saudi Arabia’s current state of readiness. A requirement that bidding nations for the 2034 World Cup should already have a minimum of seven tournament-appropriate stadiums was reduced to four, the exact number available in Saudi Arabia.
Should Saudi Arabia emerge as the only bidder in FIFA’s fast-tracked process, it also would avoid the type of high-stakes bidding race that mired the organization in reputation-shredding corruption claims in 2010, when it run concurrent races for the 2018 and 2022 events, which were secured by Russia and Qatar.
Australia, one of the losing bidders then, had spent more than $30 million in largely public money and secured only one vote, an outcome that scarred the soccer and political officials involved. Memories of that bitter and expensive failure led to the decision to walk away this time.
