Apparently, Saudi Arabia’s bid for the 2030 World Cup with Greece and Egypt will not happen after all. This puts the application with European participation in the role of favourites. South America could lose out. FIFA will award the World Cup later than expected.
The world association announced on Friday (June 23, 2023) after the FIFA Council meeting that the formal start of the application process would be postponed. This means that the vote on hosting the 2030 men’s World Cup will also be postponed from the third to the fourth quarter of 2024.
However, some requirements have been published, for example:
- 14 stages are requiredseven of which must already be completed.
- The minimum capacity is 40,000 places in the preliminary round, 80,000 in the opening game and in the final.
- For FIFA must tax exemption are valid.
- FIFA announced that when organizing its competitions, it was obliged to respecting universally recognized human rights and expect the same from every application.
- It is to be ensured that journalists and human rights activistswho work in connection with the World Cup are not hindered.
In 2022, FIFA and Qatar were criticized for numerous human rights violations.
The FIFA Congress, the assembly of the 211 national associations, will vote on the award at the end of 2024. All countries involved in the bids will not be entitled to vote among the 211 associations. And the applications are currently moving.
The FIFA Congress votes on the organization.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece: doubts about the continuation of the application
Egypt’s Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy had announced in several interviews with the Egyptian portal Sada El Balad that Egypt would not submit a bid for the 2030 men’s World Cup to FIFA. It will “no competition with the Arab brothers”, Sobhy said accordingly. What is meant is the application of Morocco with Spain, Portugal and Ukraine. Several media then reported that Saudi Arabia was no longer pursuing the application. So far there has been no confirmation of this, and an application has never been officially announced.
This does not necessarily end Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to host a soccer World Cup. The country, which is currently using football as an image project and equips its own league with a lot of money with stars from Europe, is looking to get closer to the associations. Saudi Arabia has long been a sports-political ally of FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Currently, representatives of Saudi Arabia are traveling the world signing memoranda of understanding with federations – for example, with the Indian FA and the African Confederation, which is comparable to UEFA.
Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Ukraine: clear favorites to win the bid
The application, which is characterized by Europe, is probably the most promising. The African Confederation has pledged its support. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin also spoke out in favor of them. “I think that’s a good idea”said Ceferin, who once turned down applications from multiple continents. “It makes sense to join Morocco. Morocco is very, very close to Spain and Portugal.” If the national associations from Africa and Europe vote completely for the application, that would almost be the bid.
| confederacy | Voices |
|---|---|
Europe | 55 |
Africa | 54 |
Asia | 46 |
North/Central America | 35 |
Oceania | 11 |
South America | 10 |
| total | 211 |
Morocco had joined the previously purely Iberian bid, as had Ukraine. In view of Russia’s ongoing war of aggression, it is uncertain whether Ukraine, which is only supposed to host one preliminary round group anyway, will actually stay in it.
Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile: only small chances despite anniversary
In 1930 Uruguay hosted the first World Cup and wanted to bring the tournament back to Uruguay and three other countries for the anniversary. But the chances look bad in view of the European-African application. South America has a great football tradition and is a big continent – but it only consists of ten FIFA members with only ten votes. Despite the anniversary, South America will start the race as underdogs.
The application of the future: intercontinental
After the corruption scandals surrounding the awarding of several World Cups in the then FIFA Executive Committee, FIFA changed the rules and awarded the 2026 World Cup for the first time in the general assembly of the national associations. It is now becoming apparent that intercontinental applications are promising because they can bind votes from two continents. If you have two of the four big confederations on your side, you can hope for the World Cup.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino.