GENEVA (AP) — Saudi Arabia is almost certain to host the 2034 men’s World Cup after the Australian Football Association did not participate in the competition, widely seen as designed through FIFA to suit the oil-rich kingdom.
FIFA had set a deadline on Tuesday for its member associations in Asia and Oceania to officially claim interest in the tournament, and then proved that only Saudi Arabia would participate.
Australia’s decision not to enter the race has left Saudi Arabia as a declared candidate, much to the dismay of many human rights activists.
“We have explored the option of submitting a bid to host the FIFA World Cup and, after all factors, have concluded that we will not do so for the 2034 competition,” Football Australia said in a statement.
FIFA has yet to approve Saudi Arabia as host – a decision likely to be made by the end of next year – but that now becomes a formality.
It would be the culmination of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious attempt to become a major player in world sport, having spent lavish sums of money to lure dozens of soccer stars into its domestic league, buy English soccer club Newcastle, launch the breakaway LIV Golf excursion and host primary boxing. Parties.
But FIFA’s apparent eagerness to pave the way for Saudi Arabia to host its biggest event has drawn widespread complaints from activists, who say it exposes the governing body’s human rights commitments as “a travesty. “
Saudi Arabia’s sports spending program approved by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been described as sportswashing aimed at singing a national symbol related to his record on women’s rights and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has forged close ties with Saudi football and personally with the crown prince, and has long been known for steering the world soccer body’s competitions to the kingdom.
When FIFA reached an agreement this month to have a single host country for the 2030 World Cup (bringing together Spain, Portugal and Morocco with three matches played in South America), it also accelerated the race to host the 2034 World Cup with only member associations from Asia. and Oceania. eligible to bid.
The tight deadline gave them less than four weeks to compete in Tuesday’s race and just one more month to sign a bid deal with the government to host 104 games in just six weeks.
The schedule “has been a bit of a surprise,” Australian Football Association leader James Johnson said on Tuesday, adding that “we’re adults and we’re just trying to adapt and deal with the cards we’ve been given. “
Hours after FIFA’s announcement on Oct. 4, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation announced its participation and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) — which is Australia — said it supported the kingdom in bringing the World Cup back to the Middle East after its neighbors. Qatar hosted the 2022 Edition.
Qatar hosted it in November and December, at the center of the European club soccer season, in the face of the excessive heat of the summer months and a Saudi tournament will likely also be moved from the classic June to July period.
The Indonesian football federation first expressed interest in a joint bid with Australia, potentially along with Malaysia and Singapore, but that interest faded when Indonesia subsidized Saudi Arabia.
Instead, Australia will try to host the 2029 Club World Cup (which will be relaunched in 2025 and played every four years in a new format with 32 qualified groups) and the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup. Saudi Arabia is also a candidate for the Women’s Asian Championship.
“I think there will be some goodwill if we don’t look at 2034,” Johnson told reporters on an online call, acknowledging that “it’s hard to compete with the resources of a government-backed Saudi bid. “
Australia and New Zealand were effective co-sponsors of the Women’s World Cup in July and August. Brisbane, Queensland, will be the third Australian city to host the Olympics at the 2032 Summer Games.
Saudi Arabia will also host the men’s Asian Cup in 2027 and has introduced an extensive structural program to build and renovate stadiums that will likely be used for the World Cup. FIFA’s bidding documents state that 14 stadiums are needed for the 48-team tournament.
The World Cup in Qatar has been marred by accusations of violations of the rights of the migrants needed to build its stadiums.
“The fact that FIFA in 2010 did not insist on human rights coverage when it awarded the 2022 World Cup to Qatar is one of the main reasons why serious reforms have been so long overdue and have been so poorly implemented and enforced,” Ronan Evain, Chief Football Officer. Supporters of Europe, he said on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia’s deals will be subject to the same scrutiny for the next decade.
“With an estimated 13. 4 million migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, insufficient labour and thermal protections, the absence of industrial unions, the absence of independent human rights monitors and the absence of press freedom, there are any and all reasons to worry about the lives of those who would build stadiums, public transport, hotels and other lodging services in Saudi Arabia,” Minky Worden, director of global projects at Human Rights Watch, said in a recent statement.
“The option that FIFA can simply award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup despite its appalling human rights record and closed doors to any oversight exposes FIFA’s human rights commitments as a travesty,” Worden said.
FIFA’s own bid documents for the World Cup oblige potential hosts to “respect human rights recognized around the world,” while restricting attributions to tournament operations rather than society as a whole.
“FIFA will now have to make transparent how it expects hosts to respect its human rights policies,” Steve Cockburn, Director of Amnesty International, said today. “It will also need to be prepared to stop the bidding procedure if there are serious dangers to human rights. “not credibly addressed. “
Aiming to underscore the rigor of its bid evaluation processes, FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday that its staff would compare the Saudi bid based on “the vision of the occasion and key parameters, infrastructure, services, trade, sustainability and human rights. “
The 2034 winner prevailed, though the result won’t be officially final for another year.
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