Mideast: Saudi Arabia will host fIFA world cup 2034

The biggest football tournament in the world will hold its quadrennial competition in Saudi Arabia in 2034. The FIFA committee announced the decision on December 11 2024. To accommodate the behemoth event, Saudi Arabia is building eleven brand-new stadiums with capacities of over 40,000 attendees. These stadiums will add to their four currently existing venues, which will also be upgraded. Saudi has a penchant for entertainment, tourism infrastructure, and big spending. The FIFA World Cup is the ultimate test of these skills.

Many observers question the proceedings that allowed the Kingdom to win its bid. In many ways, by the time the committee was deliberating, it was a foregone conclusion. In the end, Saudi Arabia was the only bidder for 2034. Without being involved in the FIFA deliberations, it is hard to know exactly how all these decisions were made. It is possible there were some shady dealings. It is also possible that Saudi Arabia simply out-maneuvered the other nations and used the FIFA rules to its advantage.

FIFA is made up of six continental confederations. After a continental confederation hosts the tournament, it becomes ineligible to host for the next two cycles. The games in 2022 took place in Qatar, disqualifying Asia from hosting again in 2026 and 2030.

The 2026 games will be held in North America, spanning Canada, Mexico, and the US. The 2030 games will take place in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, disqualifying both Europe and Africa as eligible host continents. Also, in 2030, some ceremonial matches will take place in Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina to commemorate the first World Cup, which took place in Uruguay 100 years earlier, in 1930. These anniversary games disqualify South America as an eligible host as well.

Thus, after the 2030 games were announced, Saudi Arabia launched a very strong bid, which it had been working on for years. It announced its bid within hours of the 2030 announcement. The Oceania Football Confederation had twenty-some days to come up with a bid, but it was unsuccessful.

Critics view these tactics as less than savory and as representative of the Saudi Arabian government’s bullish tactics in all affairs. They continue to claim that the process was a “sham,” calling it “depressing,” “engineered,” and “undemocratic.”

That being said, it has been hard to uncover evidence of wrongdoing. The Saudi Arabian Kingdom is guilty of many crimes, and there is good reason that accusations of bribery stick to them easily; however, the FIFA mechanics are too shrouded in bureaucracy for this to be clearly rigged. The decision-making process for 2034 was certainly more straightforward than normal and leaned heavily in the Asian Football Confederation’s favor, whose bidder was Saudi Arabia. But that in and of itself is no evidence of wrongdoing.

Sportswashing?

Critics dig beyond the decision-making process of FIFA and into Saudi motives. In this clip from the BBC, many lines of skeptical Western thought are present in the reporter’s question. The Minister of Sport being interviewed is clearly defending his nation’s intentions.

When asked if women and members of the LGBTQ+ community would be safe and welcome traveling to Saudi for the tournament, he answered affirmatively in a tone that suggested it was utterly obvious and should be of no concern. The term “sportswashing” is thrown around. “Sportswashing” is a term applied to nations with problematic governments who host large sporting events to seemingly distract the global media and get better press. Previous nations accused of sportswashing include The Fifa Confederations Cup in Russia, 2017 and the World Cup, Qatar, 2022.

Qatar is an interesting example because in the build-up to the World Cup there was a barrage of negative media surrounding the horrific conditions in which thousands of migrant laborers toiled during blistering desert summers to build stadiums. However, once the games began, complaints grew quiet and each match was enjoyed the same as it would be anywhere else. The final to the 2022 Qatar World Cup was the most-watched FIFA event in history.

Saudi Arabia certainly has a lot to distract the world from. In 2024, they executed 198 people, a twenty-first-century high for the Kingdom. That's not a good record to set. Moreover, their large-scale construction projects have long been associated with harsh labor conditions for the thousands of migrant workers who bear the brunt of the work. Building the stadiums will demand an immense amount of physical labor. One of the eleven new stadiums will be part of The Line, a car-less and futuristic planned city taller than the Empire State Building and over 100 miles long.

Finally, the environmental cost of such a project is sure to be huge. The Crown Jewel of the Saudi World Cup construction will be the King Salman International Stadium in Riyadh with a capacity of 92,000 people. It has an ambitious projected design with hanging gardens, climbing greenery, and a gargantuan scale. Ecologically motivated observers have pointed out the drastic costs of building so much for one event. Saudi Arabia has responded to these concerns by implementing green initiatives into the designs of the stadiums, hence the gardens and greenspace. One may wonder, however, if it truly is more environmentally friendly to plant a gardenscape on the walls of a desert stadium. Yes, it adds carbon-capturing greenery, but at what water cost?

Saudi Arabia has a lot to “Sportswash” away. From human rights abuses to devastating environmental practices, and callous labor policies to gender apartheid. But maybe sportswashing isn’t unique to the Gulf states. The Olympics and World Cup have often been touted as times when the world puts aside conflict, war, and divergence and comes together to play games and celebrate variety. In a way, that has always included "Sportswashing" to some degree. The world collectively decides to turn a blind eye to one another in favor of collaboration and sportsmanship. Critics say this prevents progress and encourages injustice. Indubitably, it also makes the world a little smaller and demonstrates our universal love of sport.