FIFA confirms Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 men's World Cup

The 2034 men’s World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia, world governing body FIFA has confirmed.

The decision was announced following a vote at a FIFA congress meeting on Wednesday.

It was also confirmed that the 2030 tournament will be staged by join hosts Spain, Portugal and Morocco, though three games in the competition will be held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to mark the competition’s 100th birthday.

The hosting decisions were confirmed by two online votes and done by ‘acclamation’ with representatives from each national association clapping in front of their cameras by video link.

The first vote confirmed the South American nations as centenary hosts and the second confined the 2030 and 2034 hosts unopposed.

While both decisions were expected, the granting of the 2034 tournament has proven controversial, with Saudi Arabia’s human rights record causing critics to object to the competition being held in the kingdom.

The nation has been accused of ‘sportswashing’, using its financial strength to host major sporting events to enhance its reputation globally and overshadow critics.

Amnesty International said that the decision to confirm Saudi Arabia as hosts was reckless, and that FIFA had failed to learn lessons from the Qatar World Cup.

“FIFA’s reckless decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without ensuring adequate human rights protections are in place will put many lives at risk,” Amnesty’s head of labour rights and sport Steve Cockburn said.

“Based on clear evidence to date, FIFA knows workers will be exploited and even die without fundamental reforms in Saudi Arabia, and yet has chosen to press ahead regardless.

“The organisation risks bearing a heavy responsibility for many of the human rights abuses that will follow.”

Ronan Evain, the executive director of Football Supporters Europe (FSE), said of the 2034 decision: “Today is a dark day for human rights and football as a whole.

“This decision is scandalous and yet another example of how fans’ concerns about tournaments we are travelling to are repeatedly ignored.

“FIFA and its affiliated associations seem to have learnt nothing from the mistakes of the past and are not even able to comply with their own regulations regarding human rights.”

The Scottish Greens said that the decision added to FIFA’s “awful reputation”.

Scottish Green MSP Gillian Mackay said: “This is a shameful decision and a dark day for football.

“The World Cup is supposed to be for everyone, but the Saudi regime is a dictatorship with one of the worst human rights records in the world.

“Over recent years it has tried to use high profile sports events to boost its reputation, while doing nothing to improve its terrible treatment of women and minority groups.

“We cannot allow football’s biggest tournament to be used as a propaganda vehicle to sportswash the abuses that have been inflicted on generations of Saudi people.

“With widespread corruption allegations and the scandals surrounding recent tournaments in Russia and Qatar, FIFA has already done more than enough to destroy its reputation. This will only undermine it further.”

Dates for the tournament have not yet been announced but European leagues have reportedly warned FIFA that it cannot switch the traditional summer staging to winter, as was the case with the Qatar World Cup in 2022.

The expansion of UEFA’s club competitions and the busy football calendar make a shift of the World Cup dates unworkable, they say.