The Asian Football Association AFC is planning a new World Cup bid for 2030 or 2034 and has Saudi Arabia in mind as the host.
“Saudi Arabia is a country capable of organizing such a tournament,” said AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa in Beirut on Monday: “But we have to choose the right time: 2030 or 2034? “
Asia has hosted a World Cup twice so far: in South Korea and Japan in 2002 and in Qatar in 2022. “If our chances of hosting the tournament in 2034 are better, we’ll look into that. And if our prospects for 2030 are better – why not?” said Bahrain’s Al-Khalifa.
So far there have been two multinational bids for 2030 – South America is sending Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay into the running, and Morocco will also be applying together with Spain and Portugal. The World Cup will be awarded at the congress of the world association FIFA in September next year.
Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal told the AFP news agency in February that his country had not yet submitted any application documents. But he added that “everything is possible”.
Similar to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia has recently invested heavily in sport. The kingdom will host the Asian Championship for the first time in 2027, the multi-sport Asian Games in 2034 and is set to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games on artificial snow in the planned futuristic city of Neom.
A Formula 1 race, the Spanish soccer Supercup, golf tournaments and boxing title fights have already taken place in Saudi Arabia. Soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo switched to the Saudi club Al-Nassr in January, and Lionel Messi is to follow him into the desert . The country’s sovereign wealth fund funds the breakaway LIV golf tour and owns Newcastle United in the English Premier League. Critics accuse the country of using “sportswashing” to improve its own reputation abroad.