Saudi Arabia have controversially been confirmed as the hosts of the 2034 World Cup despite concerns raised by a number of nations.
The hosts of the 2030 event were also named, with three continents sharing the tournament across Spain, Portugal, Morocco Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina as a celebration of the World Cup’s centenary, FIFA president Gianni Infantino told representatives from 211 countries on a video call.
The 48-team tournament will start in Uruguay as they hosted and won the first version of the competition in 1930, while the other two South American countries will also host a game each as the traditional home of the continent’s football governing body, CONMEBOL, and 1930 runners-up, respectively.
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The travel needed by teams taking part in those games has raised issues surrounding climate change, given the massive amount of air travel required, with Infantino being described as being “totally detached from reality” on the issue.
“In a divided world, FIFA and football are uniting,” Infantino said last year. “The FIFA council, representing the entire world of football, unanimously agreed to celebrate the centenary of the first World Cup whose first edition was played in Uruguay in the most appropriate way.”
(Image: Getty Images)
The president of the Norwegian Football Federation, Lise Klaveness, said: “The vote is not about who gets the 2030 and 2034 World Cups – that has already been decided.
“The congress is primarily about providing feedback on Fifa’s allocation process. The board’s assessment is that the process does not align with the principles of a sound and predictable governance system. By abstaining from acclamation, we are sending a deliberate signal that we cannot support Fifa’s approach.”
The Swiss FA also raised concerns, while a letter from the Norweigan FA was read out “raising concerns about the bidding process … being perceived as not fully aligning with the principles and objectives of Fifa’s governance reforms of 2016.”
But the biggest controversy surrounds the naming of Saudi Arabia as the sole host of the 2034 World Cup, despite concerns about the Kingdom’s human rights record. Infantino, a friend of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, personally lobbied for them to host the event.
(Image: NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The decision to give Saudi Arabia the World Cup will also present technical difficulties with scorching summer temperatures – as the Qatar World Cup did in 2022 – and another finals which take place in winter is highly likely, uprooting the European football calendar once again.
Multiple bodies have already come out against the decisions for the hosts of the next two World Cups which will follow the 2026 event in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Meanwhile, Michael Page, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), recently warned of an “unimaginable human cost” to hosting arguably the world’s biggest sporting event in Saudi Arabia.
He said: “The human engine powering the construction of Saudi Arabia’s multibillion-dollar giga-projects is the migrant workforce, who are facing widespread rights violations in Saudi Arabia without any recourse.
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“FIFA’s fake evaluation process to award the 2034 World Cup without legally binding human-rights commitments will come at an unimaginable human cost, including adverse intergenerational impacts on migrant workers and their families.”
Earlier this month, Amnesty International also warned of the risks to migrant workers who will be needed to build the right infrastructure in Saudi Arabia for 2034 after FIFA deemed the bid of “medium” risk.
“FIFA’s evaluation of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup is an astonishing whitewash of the country’s atrocious human rights record,” Amnesty’s head of labour rights and sport Steve Cockburn said.
“The sports body has decided to ignore the clear evidence of worker exploitation, legalised discrimination and severe repression, and press ahead with a predetermined decision.”