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≡ FIFA WORLD CUP ≡
Although billed as an Extraordinary FIFA Congress to select the hosts for the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups, Wednesday’s two-hour program was simply a show, with applause instead of voting.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) led a scripted program, with the “voting instructions” as follows:
“There will be two separate votes, by acclimation, now to follow.
“The first vote, by acclimation, to confirm the procedure as shared in advance with all member associations, regarding the host appointments. And then the second vote by acclimation, to confirm the host associations of the centenary celebration, the FIFA World Cup 2030 and the FIFA World Cup 2034.
“And so that we can see your acclimation, please raise your hands when you are asked to do the acclimation near your head, so we can see it, I can see you all here in front of me and we have the scrutineers as well, sitting next to me, who can check that everything runs smoothly.”
The first “vote” was taken with many of the association delegates clapping along with Infantino, but some remaining uninterested. Then Infantino continued:
“I would now, as a result, invite you to proceed to the acclimation to confirm the host associations of the centenary celebrations, the World Cup 2030 and the World Cup 2034. If you agree (clapping his hands), acclimation.”
Most of the small faces on the screens were seen applauding, but some not. There was no counting. Said Infantino:
“Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you very much. The vote of the Congress was loud and clear. Thank you to all participants. I’m looking to the scrutineers present with us on-site to confirm that everything is good? Is everything good?
“Yes, perfect; the scrutineers as well, confirm, and I therefore declare the vote closed and we can move to the formal announcements.”
That was it. No vote, only applause from the online audience by most, but not all, federations.
The 2030 FIFA World Cup is now assigned to the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal and Spain, with three opening “centenary celebration” matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The 2034 World Cup will be in Saudi Arabia, the only bidder.
These choices have significant political and sporting impacts; first, however, a quick look at the choices:
FIFA World Cup 2030: 8 June to 21 July 2030
● Single opening matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
● Overall score: 356.3 out of 500 (3.6 out of 5.0)
● Morocco: 6 stadia in 6 cities
● Portugal: 2 stadia in 2 cities
● Spain: 9 stadia in 9 cities
● Risk ratings: 16 low-risk, 2 medium-risj
● Overall score: 416.8 out of 500 (4.2 out of 5.0)
FIFA World Cup 2034: no dates proposed
● Stadia: 15 stadia in 5 cities (eight to be built)
● Risk ratings: 13 low-risk, 5 medium-risk
● Overall score: 419.8 out of 500 (4.2 out of 5.0)
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With the formal selection of these World Cup hosts, FIFA has now opened the door to a full 10 years of criticism, primarily for its choice of Saudi Arabia for 2034. By creating the “centenary celebration” matches, FIFA skipped ahead in its continental rotation by assigning a full hosting to Africa, South America and Europe in one tournament, to get to Asia, and Saudi Arabia. As Infantino pointed out, all of the continental confederations will “host” a World Cup within eight years.
The 2030 program is schedule for the June-July summer timeframe, in line with most past events and during the off-season for most of the winter-spring European leagues. The 2034 situation is much more complex, as the Saudi summers are much too hot to hold the event; Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup from 20 November to 18 December. In late 2034, Saudi Arabia will be busy:
● Riyadh will host the mammoth Asian Games from 29 November to 14 December.
● The Muslim Ramadan holiday period runs 11 November to 10 December.
● This is during the European club season, as for Qatar in 2022.
If the decision was to move up the World Cup to the beginning of 2034:
● Olympic Winter Games are in Salt Lake City, Utah from 10-26 February.
● Ramadan is scheduled from 22 November to 21 December 2033.
● The annual Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, is from 26 February to 3 March 2034.
It’s worth noting that the 2026 World Cup is scheduled for 39 days and the 2030 World Cup for 44.
The criticism of Qatar as host was unrelenting and while FIFA helped create changes in some aspects of Qatari law regarding migrant workers, it still has severe detractors. For 2034, a statement was issued by 21 groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, that began with:
“Today’s confirmation of Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 FIFA men’s World Cup, despite the well-known and severe risks to residents, migrant workers and visiting fans alike, marks a moment of great danger. It should also mark a moment for change.
“As global and regional human rights organisations, trade unions, fans groups and organisations representing migrant workers, many of us have long highlighted the severe risks posed by Saudi Arabia’s hosting of mega-sporting events. By awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without meaningful protections, FIFA has today decided both to ignore our warnings and discard its own human rights policies.
“FIFA can never claim that it did not know the severity of the risks of hosting its flagship event in a country with such weak human rights protections. Nor can the national Football Associations voting to approve it. Today, there is no shortage of evidence of migrant workers being exploited and subjected to racism, activists sentenced to decades in prison for expressing themselves peacefully, women and LGBTQIA+ people facing legalized discrimination, or residents forcibly evicted to make way for state projects. It is evident that without urgent action and comprehensive reforms, the 2034 World Cup will be tarnished by repression, discrimination and exploitation on a massive scale.”
And the groups promised to keep the heat on:
“In the decade ahead we will mobilize the human rights community across the globe to ensure the violations and abuses of this World Cup are not ignored, and press for the fundamental changes needed to protect lives and expand freedoms. The Saudi authorities, FIFA, national Football Associations, FIFA sponsors and companies involved in the World Cup – or profiting hugely from it – all have human rights obligations and responsibilities, and we will seek to hold them accountable.”
There will be other challenges for FIFA and the Saudi organizers for 2034. For one, FIFA’s leader and the consistent champion of hosting in Qatar in 2022 and Saudi in 2034 – Gianni Infantino – will be out of office in 2031, assuming he runs and wins a third full term in 2027 (no doubt of this). However, he will be only 61 in 2031 and it is not inconceivable that FIFA’s term limit rules could be changed. But for now, he will not be FIFA President in 2034 and that could be impactful.
Further, the usual issues of enormous construction requirements, transportation and local customs and laws will be highly scrutinized, as they were in Qatar in 2022, which had 12 years to prepare for a 32-team, 64-match tournament. The Saudis now has 10 years to prep for a 48-team tournament with 104 matches.
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