Saudi Arabia will today be handed the 2034 World Cup when it is quietly announced “by acclamation” at a FIFA online conference.
The Middle Eastern nation is the competition's sole bidder for 10 years, and that will be confirmed by a round of applause from delegates in what appears to be a rather ridiculous way of deciding which country will host football's greatest show.
Spain, Portugal and Morocco are set to win the right to organize the 2030 World Cup, with FIFA bringing the two events together. By staging matches in Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina to mark the centenary of the first World Cup, it means FIFA's rotation rules effectively rule out most other continents for 2034.
FIFA's decision to open the process to 2034 with only 25 days for potential bidders to submit documents also reduced the chances of playing.
Australia and New Zealand were keen but were unable to meet the requirements in that time period. Curiously, the Saudi bid was ready to go, and with the support of the AFC, they went ahead unopposed.
He questioned the assessment of human rights
Concerns about human rights in Saudi Arabia persist. Human Rights Watch dismissed the “independent” assessment by FIFA, conducted by a Saudi-based company, as “sham” while repeating many of the problems it was feared migrant workers would face in Qatar 2022.
There is also the question of when the World Cup will be held, and whether it will happen in 2034 at all.
The climate means it should be in the European winter, but November and December conflict with the holy month of Ramadan, meaning it could be postponed to January and February 2035.
Olson has concerns
The Saudi bid appears to have been prompted by controversial president Gianni Infantino and former UEFA Secretary General Lars Christer Olsson has concerns.
“When I see the handling of this vote in particular, there are bad signs,” he told the Times. “It is not as corrupt as it was under (former presidents) Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter, but what bothers me is that it is moving in a similar direction.
“It became more and more like FIFA during the Havelange era when a lot of things were decided by acclamation.”
He added: “You should not vote by acclamation, you should vote through an appropriate voting system.” This is the only way for those who oppose it to show that they are against it. Otherwise, it will be seen as a unanimous decision for Saudi Arabia in the FIFA records.
“But a lot of federations just follow FIFA, looking for something for themselves. It's a bargaining carousel. People forget their principles, the things that are the foundation of their organization and what they have to do to be honest with them.
