Officially, the six designated hosts of the 2030 World Cup as well as Saudi Arabia for the 2034 edition are still in the status of applicants – but FIFA President Gianni Infantino has already expressed the realities with all member countries around a year before the world association congress.
“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,” the Swiss wrote on Instagram on Tuesday evening: “Three editions, five continents and ten countries involved in hosting the tournament – this is what football will really be like global!”
The applications were accepted by the FIFA Council “by consensus after a constructive dialogue and extensive consultations,” Infantino continued, underlining the power of the game. “We live in an increasingly divided and aggressive world and show once again that football, the world’s leading sport, unites like nothing else.”
Saudi Arabia in particular has come under massive criticism from human rights organizations. According to Human Rights Watch, the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia is “appalling.”
The organization cited mass executions, the continued suppression of women’s rights and the murder of hundreds of migrants on the Yemeni border as examples.
In addition, government critics are tortured and imprisoned, religious minorities are oppressed, and sex outside of marriage and same-sex relationships are punishable by the death penalty.