Saudi Arabia will host the men’s soccer World Cup in
2034 while the 2030 edition will be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with
one-off matches in three South American countries, world soccer’s governing
body FIFA confirmed on Wednesday.
The decision was announced by FIFA President Gianni
Infantino following a virtual extraordinary Congress. The 2030 and 2034 World
Cups each had only a single bid and both were confirmed by acclamation.
“We are bringing football to more countries and the
number of teams has not diluted the quality. It actually enhanced the
opportunity,” Infantino said about the 2030 World Cup.
The combined proposal from Morocco, Spain and Portugal
will see the 2030 World Cup take place across three continents and six nations,
with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay hosting celebratory games to mark the
tournament’s centenary.
Uruguay held the first World Cup in 1930, while
Argentina and Spain have also staged the tournament. Portugal, Paraguay and
Morocco will all be first-time hosts.
Advertisement
Four years later, Saudi Arabia will become the second
nation from the Middle East to host the quadrennial tournament, 12 years after
neighbours Qatar staged the 2022 edition.
In 2023, FIFA said that the 2034 World Cup would be
held in the Asia or Oceania region, with the Asian Football Confederation
throwing its support behind the Saudi bid.
Australia and Indonesia had also been in talks over a
joint bid, but dropped out.
FIFA announced that both bids would be uncontested in
2023, leaving little room for doubt.
On Tuesday, the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF)
said it would vote against the awarding of hosting rights by
acclamation and criticised FIFA’s bidding process, saying it was “flawed and
inconsistent”.
Comments:
Leave a Reply