NOS Football•
The 2034 World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia, which has been official since this afternoon. After Qatar 2022, it is once again a controversial allocation by world football association FIFA. Below are five important questions about the tournament.
Is football played in summer or winter?
Until 2022, a football World Cup was always held in the summer months. When Qatar was awarded the 2022 tournament, that tradition came to an end. Due to the extreme heat in that country in June and July, the tournament was moved to November and December.
A winter World Cup (for the Netherlands) is again a possibility in 2034. January seems to be the best option, because in that year November and December in Islamic Saudi Arabia are dominated by the holy month for Muslims (Ramadan). The Asian Games will also be held around that time in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Sports explainer: why the 2034 World Cup will be awarded to Saudi Arabia
If it is indeed January 2034, an unprecedented winter of sports will take place, because the Winter Olympics start in Salt Lake City on February 10.
According to the International Olympic Committee, the organizer of the Games, this poses few problems. Good to know: the IOC has also signed a lucrative deal with Saudi Arabia regarding the Olympic E Games, which will be held there next year. Obstruction is therefore not useful for the IOC.
In which stadiums are the games played?
The tournament with 48 participating countries will be played in fifteen stadiums. The intention is to have as many as eight stadiums in Riyadh and four in Jeddah. This allows visitors to easily attend multiple matches per day, just like in Qatar.
FIFA confirms: 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia, 2030 in Spain, Portugal and Morocco
The other stadiums are to be located in Abha, Khobar and Neom, the futuristic city that has yet to be built. The stadium in the latter city must float 350 meters above the city.
The King Salman International Stadium (Riyadh), which is yet to be built, will be the largest stadium with a capacity of 92,000 spectators. A total of eleven new stadiums are being built, four are being renovated.
Is there blood on the stadiums (again)?
There was a lot to do around the construction of the stadiums around the Qatar World Cup. Migrant workers are said to have built the stadiums under appalling conditions and for very little income.
The World Cup in Saudi Arabia is at least as controversial in the West. “FIFA knows that workers will be exploited and even killed if there are no fundamental reforms in Saudi Arabia, but despite this it continues as normal,” said Steve Cockburn of human rights organization Amnesty International.
“And the fact that migrant workers who were exploited in Qatar have still not received compensation suggests that little has been learned.”
‘In the eyes of Western countries, there is a lot wrong with the World Cup in Saudi Arabia’
“And the fact that migrant workers who were exploited in Qatar have still not received compensation suggests that little has been learned,” Cockburn continues.
The country is also under fire in the areas of rights for women and LGBTQIA+ and the handling of dissidents.
Where does the money come from?
Oil. That won’t surprise anyone. FIFA has added a new and higher sponsorship category for state oil company Aramco, allowing the company to donate even more. The World Football Association can therefore also finance other projects.
The World Cup is part of the project Saudi Vision 2030, that the country must become less dependent on oil. Tourism and sports, for example, are seen as important ways to achieve this.
It is not without reason that world stars such as Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo have been lured to the country for high salaries.
What does the KNVB think?
The KNVB will not boycott the World Cup. “We are a football association and would like to participate in major international tournaments, also in countries that are different from the Netherlands,” the association wrote in a response.
“Of course, with the exception of countries where the Dutch government prohibits this, for example because there is a war or countries where UEFA and/or FIFA indicate that playing football is not allowed.”
“Our goal remains to contribute to positive developments through football, the sport that connects countries across all cultural differences, both on and off the field,” the association concludes.
