At an online meeting on Wednesday, December 11, FIFA confirmed that Saudi Arabia would host the 2034 World Cup. The event also confirmed Spain, Morocco, and Portugal's joint bid for the 2030 men's World Cup.
Well, it was a shock to no one, given they were the only nation to bid. For the second time in its history, the men's World Cup will be heading to the Middle East with Saudi Arabia. Now, attention will turn to the nation and its efforts to construct the 15 stadiums it promised to deliver in time to host the event. We've seen detailed plans of two of the proposed stadiums thus far, the “Clifftop Stadium” and the “King Salman Stadium.”
The men's World Cup 2034 heads to Saudi Arabia
“Growing. Together,” is the slogan used by the Saudi Arabian bid ahead of the 2034 World Cup. The nation will be the first to host the new 48-team event when it comes time for them to host. The plan is to host the tournament in 15 stadiums spread over five host cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar, Abha, and Neom. 10 other locations will also be used as host locations for the travelling nations.
Before the 2034 World Cup, Saudi Arabia will also host the 2027 Asian Football Cup, and the 2029 Winter Games at a new mountain resort in Neom.
Norway abstained from the vote
The Norweigan football federation opted to abstain from voting for Saudi Arabia in protest at the nation getting the World Cup. Norway said that it was protesting the bid due to a lack of transparency in the process of obtaining the World Cup. They highlighted concerns over migrant worker exploitation, similar to what was seen in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Norway's federation president, Lise Klaveness, said that; it “is not about who gets the 2030 and 2034 World Cups; that has already been decided. Wednesday's vote does not align with the principles of a sound and predictable governance system”
Other federations had expressed concern, but were expected to vote for the Saudi Arabian bid regardless.
Saudi Arabia World Cup 2034 stadiums
You can see our complete guide to the Saudi Arabia 2034 World Cup stadiums, with details below of the location and capacity of those stadiums.
| Stadium name | New/existing | Location | Home team | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Murabba Stadium |
New |
Murabba |
N/A |
45,000 |
| King Salman International Stadium |
New |
Riyadh |
Saudi Arabia national team |
92,000 |
| Roshn Stadium |
New |
Riyadh |
N/A |
46,000 |
| King Fahd Sports City Stadium |
Existing |
Riyadh |
N/A |
58,398 (rising to 70,200 with expansion) |
| Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium |
New |
Qiddiya |
N/A |
46,979 |
| Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City Stadium |
Existing |
Riyadh |
N/A |
22,188 (rising to 44,500 with expansion) |
| South Riyadh Stadium |
New |
Riyadh |
N/A |
47,060 |
| King Saud University Stadium |
Existing |
Riyadh |
Al Nassr |
26,100 (rising to 46,000 with expansion) |
| Neom Stadium |
New |
Neom |
N/A |
46,000 |
| King Abdullah Sports City Stadium |
Existing |
Jeddah |
Al Ahli and Al Ittihad |
62,345 |
| Qiddiya Coast Stadium |
New |
Qiddiya |
N/A |
46,096 |
| Jeddah Central Development Stadium |
New |
Jeddah |
N/A |
45,000 |
| King Abdullah Economic City Stadium |
New |
Rabigh |
N/A |
45,700 |
| Aramco Stadium |
New |
Khobar |
Al Qadsiah FC (planned) |
46,096 |
| King Khalid University Stadium |
Existing |
Tabuk |
N/A |
12,000 (rising to 45,000 with expansion) |
When will the Saudi World Cup take place?
We have no confirmation of a date at this point. However, we can speculate that it will be another Winter World Cup. The first of these was the Qatar World Cup, which caused a fair few problems for clubs in Europe. It's unknown at this point if FIFA has plans to improve planning this time around.
Things to learn from Qatar World Cup
If you ask most World Cup watchers, they'll tell you that the Qatar World Cup was a classic. One of the things you can look back on over time is the World Cup stadiums, and Qatar had a number of impressive ones. One of the most iconic venues at the Qatar World Cup was the 974 stadium comprising shipping containers. It was due to be dismantled after the event, but two years on, however, it still remains, and a sale to an African nation or Uruguay is still expected. Many of the remaining stadiums have now had their capacity reduced and are being used for other purposes other than football.
The key takeaway, which is something Norway is clearly cautious of, is how we get these iconic stadiums. According to The Guardian, despite an official death toll of just 40 (with only 3 being work-related), their research suggested that the true number could be well over 6,500. While it is unknown how the Saudi Arabian government intends to construct these stadiums, it is very likely they will also be using similar levels of migrant workers.