Wednesday 11 / December / 2024
LONDON: The FIFA World Cup will return to the Middle East after the world governing body, FIFA, officially confirmed on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup, while Morocco, Spain and Portugal were awarded joint hosting rights for the 2030 tournament.
The decision was announced after a vote during an extraordinary FIFA Congress which was held virtually, but it was a mere formality as neither bids had any rivals.
For the 2034 finals, FIFA had declared its intention to rotate the showpiece event between continents, which meant it welcomed bids only from Asia or Oceania as the expanded 2026 World Cup is scheduled to take place across North America.
Once other contenders like Australia and Indonesia withdrew their interest, Saudi Arabia emerged as the lone candidate and winners of the bid by default.
Thus, the FIFA World Cup will return to the Gulf region after Qatar successfully hosted the 2022 edition.
Last month, Saudi Arabia unveiled design plans for a grand 92,000-capacity King Salman Stadium in Riyadh, which will stage the opening match and the final of the 2034 tournament.
The Saudi sports ministry unveiled its designs with the stadium scheduled to be completed in 2029.
Meanwhile, Morocco - which has tried and failed on five previous occasions to be awarded the staging of the tournament - became the second African nation to host the competition after South Africa in 2010.
