Pathos-laden announcement
Saudi Arabia is bidding for the World Cup that belongs to them
October 9, 2023, 4:21 p.m
Saudi Arabia makes its bid for the 2034 World Cup official. Nothing less was expected of the kingdom. After FIFA’s surprise announcement last week, you are currently the only candidate for the tournament. The opposing candidates are running out of time.
Saudi Arabia has submitted its declaration of intent to apply for the 2034 World Cup to the world association FIFA. This was announced by the national association SAFF. “This is the second step in a hugely exciting journey the nation is embarking on. Last week we announced our ambitions to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup and with this official submission we continue our journey of turning our people’s dreams into reality association boss Yasser Al Misehal was quoted as saying.
Only on Wednesday did the FIFA Council announce that the 2030 World Cup would begin with three games in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay and then be played in Morocco, Spain and Portugal. The decision still needs to be confirmed by the FIFA Congress. At the same time, FIFA announced that only representatives from Asia and Oceania should apply for the 2034 World Cup in accordance with the rotation principle, which was seen as a clear signal to Saudi Arabia.
No other application for 2034 yet
According to a SAFF announcement, 70 FIFA member associations have already supported the application. Associations can only register their interest in applying until October 31, 2023. Final applications must be submitted to FIFA in July 2024. Apart from Saudi Arabia, no other country has yet announced an application for 2034.
Australia, a member of the Asian Football Association, announced last week that it would examine a possible application. Together with New Zealand, they hosted the Women’s World Cup this summer. But Australia will have little hope of a successful application. The President of the Asian Association, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Chalifa from Bahrain, assured Saudi Arabia of support last week.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is heavily criticized for human rights violations. Saudi Arabia is accused of wanting to burnish its image by investing billions of dollars in sport. Just this summer, numerous football stars moved to the Saudi league for extremely high salaries. Saudi Arabia originally wanted to host the 2030 World Cup.