It’s official since Tuesday evening: after the withdrawal of the Australian federation, Saudi Arabia is the only candidate to organize the Football World Cup in 2034. And the Saudis have shown their determination to the International Association Football Federation (FIFA), which plans to officially designate the host country of the competition at the end of 2024. Wednesday 1er November, to Agence France-presse, the Saudi football federation said it was ready to host the 2034 World Cup in winter or summer, ensuring that the kingdom could cope with ” All the possibilities “.
Yasser Al-Misehal, the president of Saudi football, says that“There are many new technologies that allow cooling or adding air conditioners to stadiums, not to mention that many cities in the kingdom enjoy a very pleasant atmosphere in summer.” Some Saudi cities do indeed benefit from a temperate climate, such as Abha, Al-Bah or Taif, but the sports infrastructures there are however more limited than in the rest of the country. The biggest stadiums are in the capital Riyadh, or in the coastal city of Jeddah, where temperatures can reach 50 degrees in summer.
“Saudi Arabia will present a solo candidacy”
This expected award already raises many questions about the environmental impact and FIFA’s human rights commitments. According to Yasser Al-Misehal, the kingdom will be the first country to host a World Cup on its own with 48 teams, the two previous editions being shared between the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026, and between Spain, Portugal and Morocco in 2030. “Saudi Arabia will present a solo candidacy”he confirmed to AFP.
Already announced as the big favorites to host this World Cup, the Saudis have become almost certain to obtain it after the Australian withdrawal the day before. Early in the morning of Tuesday October 31, the Australian federation announced on X (formerly Twitter) that it was officially giving up hosting the event. “We studied the possibility of submitting a bid to host the FIFA World Cup and, after taking into account all factors, we decided not to do so for the competition organized in 2034”, wrote the federation in its press release.
At the beginning of October, Australia had nevertheless reported working on a project for the organization of this World Cup. A week later, she even considered a joint ticket with Indonesia. Erick Thohir, the president of the Indonesian federation, then explained that Australia was “leaving” for a joint candidacy with his country, since “discussions during the last FIFA congress”, organized in March, in Rwanda. Finally, after the change of position of the Indonesian federation, which supported the Saudi candidacy around ten days ago, Australia decided to throw in the towel.
The kingdom plans to “offer a world-class tournament”
Saudi Arabia was officially a candidate since October 4. That day, FIFA launched a call for applications for the 2034 tournament. By virtue of the principle of rotation of the continents, the Asian and Oceanic confederations held the rope for the organization of this edition. A few minutes after this call, the Gulf country, which had already positioned itself to organize the 2030 World Cup, confirmed its candidacy for 2034. The Saudis then immediately received the support of the Asian Football Confederation, which placed them , already, in the position of big favorite to organize the competition.
Like Qatar in 2022, the country intends to make this World Cup a powerful tool of soft power. In a press release published on X, the Saudi federation announced on October 4 that it “plans to offer a world-class tournament and [qu’elle] will draw inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s ongoing social and economic transformation, and the country’s deep-rooted passion for football.”