The Saudi Football Federation confirmed its commitment to meeting all the requirements of the International Federation (Viva); To obtain the right to host the 2034 World Cup, hours after confirmation Gianni Infantino FIFA President yesterday, Tuesday, that Saudi Arabia will host the World Cup.
Infantino said in a post on his official Instagram account that the International Federation Council approved Saudi Arabia’s candidacy request to host the World Cup.
“We affirm our commitment in the Saudi Football Association to meet all the requirements of the International Federation of Association Football to obtain the right to host.”
🎙️- President of the Saudi Federation @Yalmisehal About Saudi Arabia’s candidacy to host the 2034 World Cup 👇 #Saudi Arabia2034 🇸🇦 pic.twitter.com/EwFG92lz6T
— Saudi Football Federation (@saudiFF) October 31, 2023
FIFA announced yesterday, Tuesday, that the Saudi Federation is the only body that has submitted a bid to host world Cup 2034 by the October 31 deadline.
The country or countries hosting the 2034 World Cup will be officially announced during the FIFA conference expected to be held in the last quarter of 2024.
FIFA has received letters of intent to host the 2030 and 2034 editions of the FIFA World Cup™
◀ https://t.co/PpefDqgz5d pic.twitter.com/QKfB9cWmOa
– FIFA.com – Arabic (@fifacom_ar) October 31, 2023
FIFA had previously announced that the joint bid from Morocco, Portugal and Spain is the only one to host the 2030 edition, while the first 3 matches will be held in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to celebrate the centenary of the competition.
9 requirements from Saudi Arabia
Below are FIFA’s nine requirements for Saudi Arabia, the only candidate to host the World Cup, related to the infrastructure for hosting the 2034 World Cup:
- At least 14 proposed stadiums for matches.
- At least 4 of the proposed stadiums are either currently existing, under construction, or require renovation or rebuilding while maintaining key structural elements.
- 40,000 spectators, stadium capacity for the group stage – excluding the opening match -, the round of 32, the round of 16, the quarter-finals and the third-place match.
- 60,000 spectators, capacity of the stadiums hosting the semi-finals.
- 80,000 spectators, capacity of the stadium hosting the final match.
- Courts must be 105 meters long and 68 meters wide.
- Providing 72 sites designated for national team training camps, and each site must be accompanied by a hotel.
- Providing 4 suitable training sites in each stadium (combined with a hotel).
- At least two tournament referee training camps (combined with a hotel).
Saudi Arabia’s hosting of the World Cup, if it remains alone as expected in the race, will be the second in the history of the Middle East, after Qatar hosting the 2022 edition, which was the most successful edition of the World Cup, according to what FIFA and game experts said.
