Saudi Arabia Football Federation launched the formal bid to organise the 25th edition of FIFA World Cup 2034 on Friday after showing its initial interest in October last year. The bid is all but certain to succeed due to the absence of any other interested parties.
Saudi Arabia would be the second country from the Gulf region to host the World Cup after the neighbouring country, Qatar organised the 2022 finals. The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) stated that it is “Growing. Together.” The World Cup campaign will show the way the nation is escalating bonds with other countries through sport.
“Telling our football story to the world is of massive importance, ” SAFF president Yasser Al Misehal said. ” And we believe in Growing. Together. is the perfect, yet simple description of our approach to hopefully hosting the tournament in 10 years. Bidding to host a FIFA World Cup is only made possible by the rapid transformation the country is enjoying. We’ve made unprecedented progress in both the men’s and women’s games and our bid is an open invitation to the world to join us on this exciting journey. As we proved when we welcomed over 100 nationalities to the FIFA Club World Cup Saudi Arabia 2023 in Jeddah, the future is bright when we grow together.”
Salman Al-Faraj-led Saudi Arabia is currently ranked 53rd in the FIFA Men’s team standings and was knocked out from the Round of 16 in the AFC Asian Cup last month.
The United States, Canada and Mexico are all set to co-host the next Men’s FIFA World Cup in 2026 and Western European nations Spain, Portugal and Morocco have won the hosting rights for the 2030; Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will also host one game each in 2030.
