Saudi Arabia to host 2034 World Cup as FIFA confirms the nation as the sole bidder… after Australia withdrew from contention to stage the tournament

Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup after the country was confirmed by the governing body as the sole bidder for the tournament.

FIFA announced earlier this month that only bidders from Asia and Oceania would be eligible for 2034, citing the tournament’s continental rotation.

The move came as Spain, Portugal and Morocco agreed to host the 2030 World Cup, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay hosting one match each.

Saudi Arabia presented a letter of intent to host the 2034 event shortly after FIFA’s declaration.

Football Australia, seen as the only likely rival to a Saudi bid, announced on Tuesday it had decided not to bid to host the tournament.

Saudi Arabia has been confirmed as the sole bidder for the 2034 FIFA World Cup

FIFA President Gianni Infantino (center) attended the launch of the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh last week (seated next to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman)

Countries wanting to host the 2034 World Cup had to express formal interest by October 31 and submit a signed bidding agreement by November 30.

FIFA has now confirmed the declarations of interest for both the 2030 and 2034 tournaments, effectively confirming the hosting of the World Cups.

The governing body has said it will conduct a thorough bidding and evaluation process, with formal confirmation of the appointments to be made by FIFA’s Congress in the final quarter of 2024.

FIFA says the process will be evaluated against minimum hosting requirements and will include a dialogue on “infrastructure, services, trade, and sustainability and human rights.”

Although FIFA has stated in its evaluation reports that the requirements must be met, the announcement of Saudi Arabia as the sole bidder for 2034 has effectively made the country’s award of the tournament a foregone conclusion.

Awarding the tournament to Saudi Arabia would likely require another World Cup in the winter, with the host nation of Qatar having forced the top European competitions pause their seasons last November and December.

With temperatures in Saudi Arabia regularly rising to 43 degrees Celsius in the summer, a winter period is the only humane option for a World Cup.

Saudi Arabia’s hosting would be met with controversy, despite expanding their sports portfolio in recent years to include Formula 1, boxing and the recruitment of stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to the Saudi Pro League.

Infantino and FIFA are likely to face criticism if Saudi Arabia is ratified as the host country

Amnesty International, an outspoken critic of the Saudi push for top-level sport, said on Tuesday that the kingdom must make “clear and binding commitments” to FIFA in areas such as human rights to gain the prestige of hosting a football match. World Cup.

“Human rights obligations must be agreed with potential hosts before final decisions on hosting the tournaments are made,” they said.

‘The best chance for FIFA to obtain binding guarantees to protect workers’ rights, ensure freedom of expression and prevent discrimination in connection with the World Cup is during the host selection process – not after the host has been confirmed and the preparation for the tournament has begun.’

Last week, Human Rights Watch said: ‘The possibility that FIFA could award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, despite its appalling human rights record and closed door to oversight, exposes FIFA’s obligations to field of human rights as a sham.’

Saudi Arabia, whose investment in football and the development of their own Pro League has been astronomical over the past twelve months, was initially tipped to be a candidate for the 2030 World Cup.

That bid involved Greece, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as co-hosts of the tournament, but plans were scrapped with Saudi Arabia focusing on being the sole host in 2034.

Organizing the tournament by Saudi Arabia would probably require another World Cup in the winter

The country has invested heavily in recruiting top stars like Cristiano Ronaldo in the past year

Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman had announced that “the entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the momentous initiative of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Saudi Arabia have qualified for the World Cup six times, with their first appearance coming in 1994.

Notably, they defeated world champions Argentina 2-1 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Saudi Arabia would prepare for the 2034 tournament by hosting the Asian Cup for the first time in 2027, with four new stadiums built for the event.

The 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States in its first edition with 48 teams, while hosting duties for the 2030 tournament will be shared among six different countries.

Spain, Morocco and Portugal will host the main tournament, but in honor of the special anniversary of the first ever World Cup, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina will all host opening matches.