FIFA Congress Awards World Cups for 2030 and 2034
The FIFA Congress awarded the World Cup hostings for 2030 and 2034 on Wednesday. The 2030 World Cup will take place on three continents, as decided by the Congress through acclamation on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup.
Morocco, Portugal, and Spain will be the main hosts for the 2030 World Cup. One match will also be held in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the World Cup in South America. “In today’s divided world, where it seems no one can agree on anything, it’s definitely a message of unity when we can agree on something like this” praised FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
There were no competitors for Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the 2034 World Cup, as neither the announced bid by Australia and Indonesia nor the planned bid by Southeast Asian football associations submitted their bids by the deadline last year.
While FIFA gave Saudi Arabia high marks in a review, the award to the absolute monarchy already faced sharp criticism beforehand. “FIFA neither demanded a sufficient level of care for human rights nor enforced binding commitments to prevent labor and other violations” wrote the human rights organization Human Rights Watch at the beginning of the month.
It fears that low-skilled workers will be primarily used for the construction of 185,000 new hotel rooms and the expansion of airport, road, rail, and bus networks. Saudi Arabia has a “long, dark history of dealing with guest workers” according to Human Rights Watch. A new report by the organization will document “widespread human rights abuses” against guest workers. “Some of these violations could constitute forced labor” said Human Rights Watch.