The next scandalous football tournament seems unavoidable. The 2034 World Cup will probably take place in Saudi Arabia. BVB managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke can understand the world association.
After Qatar is before Saudi Arabia. Fifa boss Gianni Infantino announced via Instagram that the 2034 World Cup tournament would take place in Saudi Arabia. Many football fans and human rights organizations strongly criticize this decision. “I can very well understand that many people are not happy with it,” said BVB boss and DFB vice-president Hans-Joachim Watzke in an interview with the TV channel “Sky”. “But if I see it correctly, we don’t have any other applications. If no one applies, what should we do? That would have been very helpful.”
Watzke went on to say that he wasn’t exactly overjoyed by this decision either. “But I’m fair enough to say: If no other country applies, what should FIFA do? (…) To be honest, there wasn’t a country where I had the feeling that they were really striving for this with all their might like us in 2006.”
Saudi Arabia is the last candidate for the 2034 World Cup
Shortly before the application deadline, the last remaining candidate, Australia, withdrew their application. Saudi Arabia is therefore unrivaled when it comes to awarding the 2034 World Cup. This is therefore just a formality. The kingdom’s official application still has to be examined at the FIFA Congress at the end of 2024. Infantino recently sold the award on Instagram as almost perfect.
“The Greatest Show on Earth will be hosted in North America by Canada, Mexico and the United States in 2026. The next two editions will be held in Africa (Morocco) and Europe (Portugal and Spain) – with three festivals in South America (Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay ) – in 2030 and in Asia (Saudi Arabia) in 2034,” he wrote on the platform: “Three editions, five continents and ten countries involved in hosting the tournament – this is how football becomes truly global! “
Saudi Arabia has come under massive criticism from human rights organizations. According to Human Rights Watch, the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is “appalling.”