2034 World Cup: Saudi Arabia set to host after Australia does not bid

[Tuna]

Money, corruption, greed.

[Leicesterpool]

Fifa have sold there soul... wont surprise me if 2038 is already decided. Which i would rule out a return to qatar.

Edited 1 November 2023 by Leicesterpool

[SkidsFox]

I'd be surprised if the Middle East looks the same in five years, so find it hard to worry about 2034.

[ozleicester]

[The boy Linacre]

Safe to say Infantino looks to be worse than Sepp.  Have seen no change at the top of FIFA & yet thought it couldn't be any worse!!!

It is all about money and the whole tournament process has been pillaged & destroyed by FIFA.

As a football fan it truly truly makes me sad.  Look at the silencing of the players at the last world cup about human rights.

Not a great look over this period, Russia, Qatar, USA probably bossed by Donald & then Saudi.

 

And the Saudi's know there is no accountability because if there was post Khashoggi, then they wouldn't be the upcoming hosts.

Though the UK is no better, they are totally entwined in our day to day life and have fingers in a number of UK football pies e.g. Man C, Newcastle, Villa etc

All echoed above, money, corruption, greed=

To the detriment of the tournament, players, fans, those that make football what it is and sadly attract those undesirables we don't want involved.

[lcfc278]

16 hours ago, bovril said:

Because they want to give S. America some games without giving them a whole world cup, basically. 

Bit of a mess really. The thing I love about WC's is you kind of buy-in to the locations and the cultures for a month or so every 4 years. This one is celebrating the 3 countries who are closely located across 2 continents, something I think will make a great WC so don't see the point of adding a few games the other side of the world just to appease a few people.

 

Instead of returning to Asia again in 2034 it should have been earmarked for South America and for one of those countries or another joint effort across a few countries.

[LCFCJohn]

15 hours ago, Langston said:

 

Hmm, I don't mind them as such, sometimes it's necessary purely because X country might not have enough venues of a decent enough capacity. Euro 2000 was an absolutely glorious tournament and felt like it had a real identity despite being split. 2008 was great for that too. 

Nail on head. Belgium/Netherlands and Austria/Switzerland, smaller, neighbouring countries with similar cultures. Not a lot of travelling for fans and good tournaments.

 

Even Spain/Portugal/Morocco are close but why South America in the same one!

 

I kind of like USA and Canada for 2026 but adding Mexico in seems too larger geographical spread (if USA and Canada was pushing it)!

[grobyfox1990]

9 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

Nail on head. Belgium/Netherlands and Austria/Switzerland, smaller, neighbouring countries with similar cultures. Not a lot of travelling for fans and good tournaments.

 

Even Spain/Portugal/Morocco are close but why South America in the same one!

 

I kind of like USA and Canada for 2026 but adding Mexico in seems too larger geographical spread (if USA and Canada was pushing it)!

Having the first 3 games in South America in 2030 was justified by it being the 100 year anniversary of the first world cup in 1930. In which case why not have the whole thing in Uruguay/Argentina. Presumably because it's too much money to put up for a South American host. 2026 will be a mega rip-off, everything is in the USA. You won't get single country hosts for a 48 team tournament I'd imagine, unless you can throw a bunch of cash at it, like Saudi.

[CosbehFox]

Realistically though the question does have to be asked is a single host for World Cup feasible outside of the traditional nations plus the US? 

 

Think a few sports have got it spot on recently like the next T20 Cricket World Cup where they've gone West Indies + USA. 

 

Sports which have quick turnarounds such as Basketball having bene having multiple host tournaments for a while now. Eurobasket, the Euro Championships has four nominated venues for the group stages and then another for the final stage 

[notnow john]

22 hours ago, Nalis said:

Could end up being a Jan/Feb world cup 

That would make it the2035 World Cup .

No,Ramadan will just have to be moved!

[grobyfox1990]

https://www.ft.com/content/7f86882f-6cc6-4259-9520-6fa07e9669be

 

Interesting article. So they gave South America 3 games in the 2030 world cup to exclude them from bidding for the 2034 World Cup. This meant Europe, Africa and SA could not bid on the 2034 tournament, leaving just Asia and Oceania as the only potential hosts, with 3 weeks notice given to bid for the tournament. 

Must say, corruption generally has got so much smarter post-covid, instead of actually paying someone off, just change the rules for them and make them sponsor something you do to collect the payoff.

[when_you're_smiling]

39 minutes ago, grobyfox1990 said:

https://www.ft.com/content/7f86882f-6cc6-4259-9520-6fa07e9669be

 

Interesting article. So they gave South America 3 games in the 2030 world cup to exclude them from bidding for the 2034 World Cup. This meant Europe, Africa and SA could not bid on the 2034 tournament, leaving just Asia and Oceania as the only potential hosts, with 3 weeks notice given to bid for the tournament. 

Must say, corruption generally has got so much smarter post-covid, instead of actually paying someone off, just change the rules for them and make them sponsor something you do to collect the payoff.

Not sure it’s smarter, just more blatant and they know there’s no answer to it.

 

If I was Aus I’d have just put in a bare minimum bid spending as little as possible. They’ve surely got the stadia anyway, plus FIFA’s whole reason for going to Russia and Qatar was officially about taking it to new places. Just quote those words back at them. 

[CosbehFox]

3 hours ago, grobyfox1990 said:

https://www.ft.com/content/7f86882f-6cc6-4259-9520-6fa07e9669be

 

Interesting article. So they gave South America 3 games in the 2030 world cup to exclude them from bidding for the 2034 World Cup. This meant Europe, Africa and SA could not bid on the 2034 tournament, leaving just Asia and Oceania as the only potential hosts, with 3 weeks notice given to bid for the tournament. 

Must say, corruption generally has got so much smarter post-covid, instead of actually paying someone off, just change the rules for them and make them sponsor something you do to collect the payoff.

Yep, fully expect Australia and South American countries do well out of the hosting of the lesser FIFA tournaments for the next few years 

[grobyfox1990]

2 hours ago, when_you're_smiling said:

Not sure it’s smarter, just more blatant and they know there’s no answer to it.

 

If I was Aus I’d have just put in a bare minimum bid spending as little as possible. They’ve surely got the stadia anyway, plus FIFA’s whole reason for going to Russia and Qatar was officially about taking it to new places. Just quote those words back at them. 

It's defo not more blatant now. In the Blatter days there was an actual brown paper bag stuffed full of cash given to Jack Warner. Now you have sponsorship deals, commercial rights, media contracts all signed off by Western solicitors and in the Western banking system as clean and approved cash. Look at Chelsea for example, that is one big money laundering ring, but it's legal...for now anyway

If Aus went down that route they would be a load of money down for no reason.

Edited 6 November 2023 by grobyfox1990
typo

[Langston]

Time difference would be a pain but an Australia (even an Aus/NZ) World Cup would be so good as an event, too.

[davieG]

When Fifa’s team of inspectors travelled to the north-west of Saudi Arabia a fortnight or so ago, they needed to bring vibrant imaginations. They were scoping out one of the probable venues for the 2034 World Cup but this was no usual reconnaissance mission. It is one thing when, more than a decade out, a stadium is unbuilt, but quite another when the same goes for an entire host city. Visualising a semi‑final between, say, England and Brazil is not straightforward when you are gazing into a trench.

That was the case when a delegation from football’s governing body visited Neom, a mind-boggling project whose centrepiece will be a high-rise line in the desert that measures 105 miles long and 200 metres wide, ultimately accommodating nine million people. The plans that have been released look akin to a video game. Details of its progress are closely guarded but excavation works are well under way and there is a pledge to begin moving people in by 2030. The city will contain several stadiums and if Saudi Arabia gets its way, which happens more often than not, Neom will become one of the most important sporting venues on Earth.

 

 

More here - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/dec/28/saudi-arabia-2034-ambitious-world-cup-plans-force-fifa-leap-of-faith?fbclid=IwAR3RIUlIyR0I1VI64a0Sre3OjLH35sio6L5NqxLwlgkgNY0HqN2C_2e8tSA