The decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia has been described as an “extraordinary stitch up”, by a leading football journalist. 

After no other bids were received, FIFA announced the Kingdom had won by default.

On the surface that might seem uncontroversial but Philippe Auclair said it is not surprise the Saudis had won.

“FIFA wanted Saudi Arabia to get the World Cup in 2034,” he told The Hard Shoulder. 

“Saudi Arabia wanted FIFA to give it to them and that’s what’s happened.”

Australia successfully co-hosted the Women’s World Cup with New Zealand this year and had been expected to put in a bid for the 2034.

At the last minute, the Aussies pulled out.

“Their reasoning is that they did not have much time because FIFA gave only, I think 25 days for bidding countries to declare their interest,” Mr Auclair said.

“There was an awful lot of pressure put on possible, potential rival bids - such as Indonesia.

“Indonesia had declared an interest and then were told it would be in the interests of Asian football if there was a unity candidacy and they decided not to go on with their bid.”

Human rights

The decision to host last year’s World Cup in Qatar was extraordinarily controversial because of the country’s poor human rights record.

Like its next door neighbour, Saudi Arabia has often been condemned for its human rights records; women lack equal rights in a number of areas and homosexuality is punishable by death.

FIFA recently added a commitment to human rights to its charter but Mr Auclair said this was “laughable” given the body’s recent decisions.

“The fact that the human rights element has been pushed aside is not exactly a surprise if you see how FIFA has pursued the human rights angle after the 2022 World CUP,” he said.

The decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia will be rubber stamped by a FIFA congress next year.

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Main image: Saudi Arabia's football team. Picture by: Sho Tamura/AFLO SPORT/Alamy Live News