Football fans attending the 2034 World Cup in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will be banned from drinking alcohol in stadiums, senior FIFA officials have revealed.
The announcement comes after FIFA on Wednesday, December 11, confirmed Saudi Arabia as the host of the 2034 men’s World Cup, making it the second Middle Eastern nation to host the tournament after Qatar.
FIFA has not yet issued a public statement on the matter, but senior officials disclosed the decision to The Guardian daily.
According to sources, FIFA made the decision based on “lessons learnt” from the World Cup staged in Qatar two years ago.
At that time, Qatar’s officials initially approved the sale of beer in designated stadium fan zones in February, but in July, they announced that alcohol can be brought to stadiums, but the sale of such beverages would not proceed.
However, Qatar banned alcohol sales around stadiums two days before the first match in November.
This resulted in the removal of “tens of thousands of kegs of Budweiser” from stadiums, costing FIFA approximately 50 million US dollars in compensation to sponsor AB InBev.
Since 1952, alcohol sales and consumption in Saudi Arabia have been banned. However, since January 2024, a shop in Riyadh has been granted permission to sell alcohol to non-Muslim diplomats under strict regulations.
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