Saudi Arabia made a bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2034 in October 2023 before getting confirmed as the sole candidate for the tournament. Most of the Kingdom’s residents embraced this news despite ongoing questions about FIFA’s transparent decision-making policies. The reasons Saudi Arabia is an inappropriate country for the FIFA World Cup 2034 are related to the credibility of the processes under which the choice was made.
The Absence of a Bidding Process with Competition
This is missing in the process through which the Saudi Arabs emerged winners: where previous bids required several countries to come up and express their intent to host the World Cup. The system allows countries to have an open contest, and after that, it should be fair or clear.
This could be a scandalous process in case there is no other applicant. Maybe country applicants from somewhere else became interested, and it did not go anywhere, or maybe FIFA simply wanted to see the 2034 World Cup in Asia and host it for them because no one else expressed interest except the applicant from Asia. FIFA only gave countries a very short window of only 25 days to bid on hosting the tournament, which discouraged other would-be bidders
Lack of a Legitimate Decision-Making Process in FIFA
FIFA has also been in scanner against corruption and dubious decision-making for decades now. The latest is the one against the World Cup 2018, another for the year 2022, and it has already kept on going into the investigation against leadership as well that have questioned the transparency of their legitimacy of selection.
The fact that FIFA unilaterally awarded the rights to host the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia makes the issues sound more high-brow. This is because, at FIFA, through a selection process, the move appears to be politically and financially motivated rather than an all-rounded and unbiased choice. Saudi Arabia’s bid scored a high 4.2 out of 5 from FIFA, which was more than the score of the joint bid by the USA, Canada, and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup
Human Rights Issues Involving Saudi Arabia
Probably, among the most debated issues surrounding the Saudi Arabian bid for the World Cup is the country’s human rights record. One of the long-standing matters of criticism against Saudi Arabia is that this country has little political freedom, mistreats women, and does not believe in the freedom of speech.
In the last two years, FIFA has been very much interested in seriously conducting discussions on human rights issues associated with major sporting events. It contracts the country that is hosting it with guidelines ensuring the respect of its people and the rights of the workers.
Freedom of Speech and Press Censorship
The other human rights concerns that have been observed concerning this kingdom include controlling freedom of speech and media censorship. Journalists and media houses are under strict rule by the government; those who attempt to criticize the regime or any policies under the regime will usually end up in the law courts.
Since the World Cup is an international event, surely it would command much media focus, thus evoking concerns as regards freedom of expression for the journalists and uninterrupted reportage from the media house about the game.
Lack of International-Class Infrastructure
Another reason not to believe that Saudi Arabia can host the 2034 World Cup is its infrastructure. The country has managed to serve its purpose over the past decade by upgrading stadiums, hotels, and other transportation systems; however, there remain some aspects that will make it hardly comparable in better ways with the best in the world.
Organizing the World Cup needs state-of-the-art stadiums together with secure transportation systems robust security approaches and enough lodging capacity to welcome hundreds of thousands of international attendees. The Saudi infrastructure has been improving yet remains below expectations for delivering the demands expected from hosting a tournament with limited global event hosting experience.
Criticism of Political Governance in the Saudi Arabian Government
Another great issue is that it boosted the political level of Saudi Arabia in the international sports arena. Over the last ten years, vast money has been spent on sports, besides establishing programs like the Saudi Pro League, under which foreign players represent the Saudi first-tier teams, and massive sponsorship deals have been signed with global sports organizations.
The investment that Saudi Arabia has made in the world of sports is pretty impressive; however, politics surrounding the country’s bid to host the World Cup is raising concerns. It is argued that the country’s political leaders use sports to develop their international status despite its controversial internal policies. Saudi Arabia was initially considering making a joint 2030 World Cup bid with Greece and Egypt but dropped its 2030 bid for the 2034 bid when the initial plans were discarded.
Conclusion
The World Cup bidding process enables participating nations to present their modernization plans through their offerings like Saudi Arabia as one of the bidders. The question raises significant concerns about the FIFA selection of the bids and its decision-making mechanisms. The entire process of bidding lacks a general sense of competition; controversies over human rights, combined with political pressures and infrastructure issues, make Saudi Arabia an unsuitable host for the World Cup.