FIFA President surprised
Almighty Infantino simply awards two world championships
November 1, 2023, 3:12 a.m
FIFA President Gianni Infantino sells the awarding of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia for the 2034 tournament as perfect in a post on Instagram. The application deadline for the 2034 World Cup expired on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia is heavily criticized for human rights violations.
Officially, the six designated hosts of the 2030 World Cup as well as Saudi Arabia for the 2034 edition are still in the status of applicants – but FIFA President Gianni Infantino has already expressed the realities with all member countries around a year before the world association congress.
“The Greatest Show on Earth will be hosted in North America by Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026. The next two editions will be held in Africa (Morocco) and Europe (Portugal and Spain) – with three festivals in South America (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay ) – in 2030 and in Asia (Saudi Arabia) in 2034,” the Swiss wrote on Instagram: “Three editions, five continents and ten countries involved in hosting the tournament – this is how football becomes truly global! “
The applications were accepted by the FIFA Council “by consensus after a constructive dialogue and extensive consultations,” Infantino continued, underlining the power of the game. “We live in an increasingly divided and aggressive world and show once again that football, the world’s leading sport, unites like nothing else.” Quite interesting: Australia, the Saudis’ last competitor, canceled on Tuesday, shortly before the application deadline expired. FIFA then announced that there should be a careful application and evaluation process. In the evening Infantino’s surprising announcement.
Saudi Arabia more controversial than Qatar
The kingdom is even more controversial than the host of the 2022 finals, its small neighbor Qatar. Wenzel Michalski said in an interview with the German Press Agency that he didn’t want to compare the two countries. The human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is even worse than in Qatar, emphasized the Germany director of Human Rights Watch. For him, one thing is certain: a World Cup in Saudi Arabia is not possible.
“Because FIFA has set itself a human rights agenda that says that World Cup hosts must respect human rights. And as we know, that is not the case at all with Saudi Arabia,” Michalski explained. To assign them there would be a betrayal of those who would believe FIFA can actually implement its human rights standards.
The lack of competition in the awarding of the 2030 and 2034 tournaments is also a reason for Amnesty International to hold FIFA particularly accountable. “It is therefore crucial that the world football association takes responsibility and demands binding human rights guarantees from the applicants,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia, which is hosting the FIFA Club World Cup at the end of the year, is not missing out on the opportunity. “This is the second step of an extremely exciting journey that the nation is embarking on,” association head Yasser Al Misehal said last when the declaration of intent was announced: With the application, “we are continuing our journey to make the dreams of our people become reality.” .