Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday its intention to apply to host the 2034 World Cupthe latest step in a campaign to make the kingdom a global sporting power.
The bid “aims to deliver a world-class tournament and will draw inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s ongoing social and economic transformation and the country’s deep-rooted passion for football,” said a statement from the Saudi Arab Football Federation.
News of the offer comes a year later Neighboring Qatar hosted the first World Cup in the Middle Eastwhere the Saudi national team scored a superb group stage victory against eventual winners Argentina.
The Saudi announcement comes an hour after world football governing body FIFA released a statement outlining its plans for the 2030 World Cup and inviting Asian Football Confederation (AFC) countries to apply for 2034 .
In the wake of the Qatar tournament, Saudi Arabia signed Cristiano Ronaldo playing in the Saudi Pro League, the first in a series of major stars lured by the exorbitant salaries of the world’s largest crude oil exporter.
Sport is a major part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 reform program, which aims to transform Saudi Arabia into a tourism and business hub while moving the economy away from fossil fuels.
In the coming weeks, the kingdom is set to host the final LIV Golf League tournament of the regular season, a boxing match featuring Antoine Joshua and the Next Gen ATP Finals tennis tournament.
It will also host the FIFA Club World Cup in December.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia was confirmed as host of the 2027 Asian Cup.
The event will allow Saudi officials to improve existing football infrastructure, with new “world-class stadiums” built “in the most sustainable way”, Saudi Football Federation President Yasser Al Misehal said on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia had previously considered a tricontinental World Cup bid with Egypt and Greece, although that plan was abandoned.
The new Saudi-only bid means fans would face “a maximum flight time of three hours between cities and stadiums”, Misehal said.
Riyadh’s willingness to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on sporting events has sparked accusations of “sports washing”using sport to distract from oft-criticized human rights violations.
In an interview with Fox News last month, Prince Mohammed rejected the attacks, saying: “I will continue to do sportwashing” if it benefits the Saudi economy.
Hosting the World Cup would increase scrutiny of the 38-year-old de facto leader, whom critics accuse of consolidating his power through a fierce crackdown on CONTESTATIONincluding a recent case in which a retired teacher was sentenced to death for critical social media posts.
Prince Mohammed said Fox he was “ashamed” of this verdict.
Like Qatar, Saudi Arabia would be criticized for banning homosexuality and for its treatment of migrant workers, said Kristin Diwan of the Arab Institute for the Gulf States in Washington.
“There is nevertheless a growing sense of inevitability of the Gulf region’s emerging central role in the sport,” she said.
World Cup-related construction could also spark a backlash from environmental activists who raised the alarm last year after Saudi Arabia won the rights to host the Asian Winter Games of 2029, a 47-event competition to be held in Trojena, a $500 project area. billion futuristic megacity known as NEOM.
At the time, Greenpeace questioned how the projects Trojena – including an artificial freshwater lake, cabins, mansions and ultra-luxurious hotels – could eventually be sustainable.
But Riyadh would like to use the World Cup as a showcase for various natural attractions, dispelling the notion that Saudi Arabia is a giant desert.
Misehal, the president of the football federation, said on Wednesday that fans would be attracted by “our mountains, our islands and of course our culture”. experience.”
The Asian Football Confederation came out in favor of Saudi Arabia’s bid for the 2034 World Cup shortly after its announcement on Wednesday.
“The entire Asian football family will be united in supporting this momentous initiative by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and we are committed to working closely with the global football family to ensure its success,” said the president of AFC, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa.
The Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation also called on its 57 member states to support the candidacy.
