FIFA award: 2030 World Cup in Europe, but Saudi Arabia will celebrate in 2034!

FIFA award: 2030 World Cup in Europe, but Saudi Arabia will celebrate in 2034!

The 2030 and 2034 World Cups have officially been awarded to Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. In a virtual FIFA congress on Wednesday, all member associations voted unanimously in favor of the double award, which had already been orchestrated in this form in advance by FIFA President Gianni Infantino. While the 2030 World Cup will take place in six countries and on three continents, including Uruguay, where the first ever World Cup was held, the awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia is extremely controversial nzz.ch reported.

FIFA prepared the application options for the 2034 World Cup in such a way that ultimately only Saudi Arabia remained as an applicant. By changing the voting modalities, delegates were not only able to vote for the 2030 World Cup, but also had to accept the award to Saudi Arabia in order not to vote against the tournament in Europe. This meant that many European associations that wanted to adequately raise concerns about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia found themselves in a predicament today.at notes.

Human rights concerns and criticism

The awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia is not only met with resistance within the football associations; NGOs such as Amnesty International express clear concerns about the human rights situation in the kingdom. The organization describes the situation as catastrophic and warns of the catastrophic consequences for the migrant workers needed to build the necessary infrastructure, including eleven new stadiums and numerous hotels. There are doubts about the legal situation and the fear of the workforce being exploited nzz.ch reported. Despite these serious concerns, FIFA rated the human rights situation at 4.2 out of 5 in its report and therefore did not see a serious risk.