Saudi Arabia revealed as hosts of 2034 World Cup

On the 11th December, FIFA announced that the Football World Cup in 2034 would be held in Saudi Arabia, and here’s why it’s being called ‘controversial’.

2034 will be the first year that Saudi Arabia has held a World Cup in football, and the third year that a World Cup has been hosted in Asia. All 211 of Fifa’s member nations were involved in a meeting on December 11th, with Saudi Arabia having been confirmed as hosts, alongside the announcement of six countries across three continents hosting the World Cup in 2030.

Saudi Arabia plans on hosting the tournament in 15 stadiums in five cities, including Abha, Al Khobar, Jeddah, Neom and Riyadh.

However, fans aren’t too happy with the news for various reasons.

The first reason being that the country is planning to host the tournament in 11 stadiums that haven’t yet been built, meaning only five stadiums are complete, giving them a decade to build the remaining stadiums. Some of the stadiums are involved in the country’s plans for a new city named Neom. The building of these stadiums are also being questioned, with concerns over the labour abuse that followed after Qatar’s building of stadiums in 2022.

The host country and FIFA have also been criticized for ‘sports washing’ its past history related to the issues relating to human rights. This includes the lack of political freedom.

Lastly, fans are also worried about how Saudi Arabia has no freedom of speech, and also the lack of rights for females and people that are part of the LGBTQ+ community. This raises issues with safety for fans and the wellbeing of those travelling.

However, FIFA have stated to Telegraph Sport that they are going to ensure ‘all fans can attend the tournaments” and also, following a meeting FIFA had with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, that the country has “assured us that they are fully committed to providing a safe and welcome environment for all fans”.