FIFA officially awarded the organization of the 2030 and 2034 World Cups on Wednesday during an extraordinary virtual congress. Six countries, on three continents, will host the 2030 edition and Saudi Arabia will organize the 2034 edition.
Meeting by videoconference, the 211 member federations ratified this double designation by acclamation, without the slightest suspense. The two files were the only ones in the running after a series of withdrawals and, for 2034, a lightning procedure limited to Asia and Oceania, in the name of continental rotation.
Morocco, Spain and Portugal
The “Centennial World Cup” will unite six countries: Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. The three South American nations will host only three inaugural matches to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the first World Cup, born in 1930 in Uruguay.
With 11 of the 20 stadiums proposed, Spain should be the main host after having already organized the 1982 World Cup. Morocco, five unsuccessful candidates for the organization, will become the second country on the African continent to host it, after South Africa in 2010.
The 2030 tricontinental formula was greeted last year with questions about its environmental impact, as well as the cost for supporters, but it is above all the designation of Saudi Arabia which concentrates criticism and fears.
“Lives in danger”
Superpower in the making of world sport, Saudi Arabia found itself the sole candidate after the renunciation of Australia and Indonesia, and the shelving of China’s footballing ambitions. The ultraconservative kingdom, launched into a strategy of economic diversification and improvement of its image, currently only has two of the 14 stadiums with at least 40,000 seats required.
But this attribution “endangers lives and reveals the emptiness of FIFA’s commitments in terms of human rights”, said Wednesday in a joint text 21 organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Sport and Rights Alliance and Football Supporters Europe (FSE).
In its evaluation report, FIFA estimates that Saudi commitments in terms of human rights will require “a significant effort in time and energy” between now and 2034, but sees “a significant probability that the competition will serve as a catalyst for current and future reforms.
Switzerland approves, but criticizes
Unlike the Norwegian federation – which criticized a process that was “defective and incompatible” with the principles of “responsibility, transparency and objectivity” – the Swiss Football Association (ASF) for its part announced on Tuesday that it would approve these two candidacies. Its president Dominique Blanc had, however, indicated on the ASF website that he had sent a letter to FIFA concerning certain points of the Saudi candidacy.
“Concretely, we are asking FIFA and the organizers to set up independent control and appeal bodies, in addition to the International Labor Organization (ILO),” he said in particular.
