FIFA members confirmed Saudi Arabia as the host of soccer’s 2034 men’s World Cup on Wednesday, but, in formalizing the choice, they left several key questions about the controversial tournament unanswered.
On a videoconference dubbed an “extraordinary congress,” representatives from some 200 national soccer federations applauded to approve the Saudi bid and, simultaneously, a six-nation, three-continent bid for the 2030 men’s World Cup headlined by Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
Those were the only two bids for the two showpiece events after FIFA officials, led by president Gianni Infantino, brokered a compromise between rivals for the 2030 edition, then fast-tracked the bidding process for 2034 — for which Saudi Arabia was, based on the “principle” of continental rotation and tight deadlines, the only eligible and realistic bidder.
Over a year after those secretive discussions yielded lone bidders, neither Infantino nor other top officials have substantively explained how decisions were reached. They have not held a single news conference nor addressed questions from journalists.
They also have not specified how organizers of the Saudi World Cup plan to address a deluge of human rights concerns; nor when, exactly, the 2034 tournament will be played.
World Cups have traditionally been held in the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, even when staged beneath the equator in South America or South Africa. The entire rhythm of global soccer settled in around this tradition. Most top-flight leagues begin their seasons in August, finish in or around May, and then break for high-profile international tournaments.
But Saudi Arabia’s climate, like Qatar’s, complicates matters. In the Gulf, summer temperatures regularly exceed 100 degrees. Such heat is often considered unsafe for soccer — and undesirable for the millions of fans that World Cups attract.
FIFA, citing those dangers, moved the 2022 Qatar World Cup from its typical summer window to November and December. Many assume Infantino and the current FIFA administration will push for a similar move in 2034.
But there are other complications. In 2034, Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia and home of eight proposed World Cup stadiums, is set to host the Asian Games from Nov. 29 through Dec. 14. Separately, Ramadan will begin on or around Nov. 12 and be observed by a majority of people in Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam, through early December.
So, could the World Cup begin in late December — perhaps when some European leagues begin their winter breaks — and stretch into 2035? Or earlier in 2034?
As a 48-team tournament likely to feature 104 games, it will be more burdensome than Qatar 2022, which FIFA squeezed into 29 days, with only a week of prep time for participating teams beforehand. The first 48-team World Cup, set for North America in 2026, is scheduled to last 39 days.
And then there is the resistance that FIFA may face from the European leagues whose seasons would be interrupted.
The European soccer establishment whined about Qatar 2022. Leagues were all forced to pause for over a month, start earlier in August, jam more matches into weekday nights, and/or extend their seasons into June 2023.
Players unions also complained that workloads — a longstanding and growing concern even in non-World Cup years — were exacerbated by a winter World Cup. “Among the comments by players,” FIFPRO reported in March 2023, “were that they did not have enough time to prepare tactics with their national team before the World Cup and had to rush back to club football too soon afterwards; one said the abrupt return was ‘practically suicide.'”
Both the unions and leagues have since gone to battle with FIFA over the “international match calendar,” a document that governs when professional clubs must release their players to national teams. FIFA controls it, has “failed to meaningfully engage or negotiate and [has] unilaterally continued a program of competition expansion despite the opposition of player unions,” FIFPRO Europe, an umbrella group representing national players’ associations, said in a statement this past June.
That statement accompanied a legal claim filed by the English and French players’ unions against FIFA. Months later, a coalition of unions and top leagues, including England’s Premier League and Spain’s La Liga, filed another complaint to the European Commission challenging FIFA’s imposition of the international match calendar. That case, which relies on conflict-of-interest principles similar to those at the center of last year’s Super League ruling, is a potentially explosive one that could weaken FIFA’s authority as soccer’s global governing body.
It also could undercut FIFA’s leverage in negotiations over the future of the calendar, which is currently set through 2030. The European leagues and unions could have more say in the next round of discussions, and the next iteration of the calendar, which would likely encompass 2034.
They could, therefore, have the power to resist another winter World Cup, and/or to determine when Saudi Arabia 2034 is played. (Players would also likely resist a mid-summer World Cup in the Kingdom due to heat.)
Saudi officials hinted at the complexity of the situation in their bid book. “It is essential that the dates chosen for the [World Cup] are planned and coordinated with FIFA and its stakeholders,” they wrote, but also “paramount to consider … a wide range of other factors,” including “climatic conditions; the schedule of other sporting events in Saudi Arabia and globally; [and] important religious events both within Saudi Arabia and around the world.
“In terms of religious events in 2034,” they later wrote, “Ramadan, the yearly Muslim month of fasting and prayer, and the annual Hajj pilgrimage [which will occur in mid-late February in 2034 and 2035] need to be taken into account. Also important to consider is the Christmas to New Year period in the last week of December.”
FIFA, in its bid evaluation report, agreed. “It would be important to consider religious events in determining the timeline for the competition,” evaluators wrote. Given the “complexities,” they graded “event timing” an area of “medium risk.”
And so, even with Saudi 2034 officially confirmed, the dates and months of the tournament remain unknown.
