Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup: glitz, glamour and 'grimly inevitable'

The stage is set for Saudi Arabia to host the football World Cup in 2034 after Australia pulled out hours before Fifa's "declarations of interest" deadline on Tuesday.

The Middle East country now finds itself the "protagonist" in "another pivotal world sporting event", said Joey Mills on The Sportsman – "or antagonist depending on your point of view".

'Structurally it will be really good' 

Saudi Arabia's "unprecedented investment" in sports in recent years has "always seemingly intended to lead to this moment", said the BBC's sports editor Dan Roan. No one who has watched the golfing world being turned "upside down through the rebel LIV Series", or as the country started to "dominate the hosting of top boxing", will be "that surprised". But the prospect of the 48-nation World Cup being hosted by the Saudis will "still shock many".

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Right now, "unimaginable sums are being spent in a land where money is no object", said Mike Keegan in the Daily Mail. A "vast, futuristic metro system" in Riyadh, which is likely to be the tournament's "main hub", is costing more than £18 billion. At the city's airport, a "seen-to-be-believed extension" is in the works, with "no fewer than six new runways" planned. And "significant upgrades" are being made to possible host stadiums, with a new one set to open in Dammam ahead of the 2027 Asian Cup.

Eddie Howe, manager of the majority Saudi-owned Newcastle United, said on Tuesday that the country would put on a "well organised" World Cup, adding "structurally it will be really good".

The 2034 World Cup promises to be a "glitzy, glamorous event with world-leading facilities backed by state-of-the-art infrastructure", said Keegan. With more than a decade until the tournament, there's no doubt "Saudi will be ready". 

Some questions will need to be answered, he added, like "whether fans will be allowed to drink alcohol in stadiums". 

'Ugly truths' 

It was "grimly inevitable" that Saudi Arabia would end up the likely host of 2034, said Time. Football's World Cup was "powerless to repel the same centrifugal forces that had already ensnared" a long list of other sports. And some have suggested the outcome "had almost been engineered as an effective fait accompli in a deal lacking transparency and accountability", said the BBC's Roan.

Saudi could prove an "even more controversial" host than Qatar last year, Roan continued. "Concerns" range from "human rights issues, and Fifa's handling of the bidding process, to the calendar disruption and impact on player welfare", with the event likely to be hosted in the winter months. Many of these issues were raised during Qatar 2022, and will not only be "resurrected", said Time, but "turbocharged". 

The hosts insist their bid "is designed to help modernise the country… diversify the economy before the arrival of a post-oil world, and be a unifying force", Roan said, while critics will claim it is "the ultimate expression of 'sportswashing'". "Whatever the true motive" of Saudi's rulers, the solo bid scenario will "intensify scrutiny" on Fifa's processes.

Hosting the tournament in a country where homosexuality is illegal, "there may well be issues over how welcoming the experience is for all", said Keegan. "Nor should we forget" the country's "predilection for mass executions or its recent slaughter of hundreds of migrants at the Saudi-Yemen border", said Time. Human Rights Watch has decried the possibility of Saudi 2034 as exposing "Fifa's commitments to human rights as a sham". 

The kingdom's rulers' efforts to promote itself as "a sports and entertainment capital hide some ugly truths," said The Sportsman's Mills. The World Cup "used to be a beacon of all that was good about football", but "is now a carpet under which to sweep a nation's gruesome ills".