2034 WC to be Held in Saudi Arabia after Australia Pulls out

JogaBonitoRooney said:
No issue with Saudi hosting it. Qatar did a good job.

If Saudi or Qatar shouldn't host it, then who in the Arab / Middle East world can host it? Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Egypt? No because all those countries have or have had recent wars and politically turnoil.

So, what's the issue with Saudi and Qatar? They are wealthy countries who are capable of hosting. Must only be racism against people in that part of the world. Eurocentric view and Europeans think only they should be able to watch world cup in the most convenient timezone I guess.

Terrorist war mongering countries hosted in 2018 and will host again in 2026 so no issue with Saudi or Qatar.
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Or hear me out, it could be about the old human rights abuses, exploiting workers, taking their passports, making them live in squalor, making them work long hours in intense heat and harsh conditions resulting in many of them dying and getting injured. That sort of carry on.

But apart from all that they're a great bunch of lads no doubt.
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
No issue with Saudi hosting it. Qatar did a good job.

If Saudi or Qatar shouldn't host it, then who in the Arab / Middle East world can host it? Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Libya, Egypt? No because all those countries have or have had recently wars and politically turnoil.

So, what's the issue with Saudi and Qatar? They are wealthy countries who are capable of hosting. Must only be racism against people in that part of the world. Eurocentric view and Europeans think only they would be able to watch world cup at in the most convenient timezone I guess.

Terrorist war mongering countries hosted in 2018 and will host again in 2026 so no issue with Saudi or Qatar.
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That area held it just 2 years ago despite having under 60 m people and hopeless football teams. This is not a growth project like India or China..My country (home of the world’s biggest domestic league) last held it before I was born. Europe proper has not held it since 2006. There are other wealthy countries in Europe, N America, Australasia even S America who could host it but realise there is no point competing for obvious reasons (Swiss bank accounts). Maybe next time UAE or joint Bahrain-Kuwait bid?
 
jabugo said:
Spain don't need to share the WC with anyone, although I liked the "Iberian World Cup" idea. Nobody in Spain has any interest in a WC with Morocco. Actually the opposite, most of the people prefer no WC rather than that. Morocco was included last minute who knows why. Not only that that we need to share the WC with another 3 countries in South America, which makes even less sense.

Yes, probably so Saudi Arabia could buy their WC in 2034.

2030 is a complete joke and I hate that my country is part of that. They just stuffed all they could together to swallow the Saudi oil.

Anybody knows any organization more corrupted than FIFA?
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The 3 countries in South America are only going to host the 3 “anniversary” opening games. (And you’re right, Fifa only included them to prevent South American countries from bidding for 2034, leaving it open for the Saudis)

After the anniversary games all will be played in the 3 main hosts.

Spain would have had to build (or renew/expand) 9 more stadiums to host it alone, adding Portugal is natural, but Portugal & Spain soon understood they could lose if they don’t bring enough money guarantees from their respective governments, which seemed hard to come by.

That is why they invited Ukraine to join the bid, which made it stronger but when Andriy Pavelko got arrested for embezzlement, Ukraine became a liability and was kicked out. The same governments that told their federations to invite Ukraine were now telling them to get Morocco on board instead. (Probably advised by Fifa /possibly to block African countries from bidding for 2034, leaving it wide open for the Saudis)
 
The world cup has been my favourite footballing event ever since I watched the 1970 WC as a kid. I love the qualification competitions and basically take a month off work to watch the finals every 4 years.
I didnt watch the last one in Qatar, just couldnt do it. The WC is becoming or has become for me a real problem on a couple of different fronts. Maybe because Im now giving more thought to social issues than when I am younger. I struggle with the size and the ethics of the selection process, the cost and the choices of countries. Others in this thread have pointed out the double standard of protesting the human rights issues of some host countries and ignoring the war mongering efforts of other host countries. Its a fair point and I dont have a proper answer at this stage. The numbers of teams now is also a major concern. In in NZ and we are rubbish at football and in the past qualifying has been a very difficult thing to achieve. We wont ever be a major player at a world cup so just qualifying was a major event for us. Thats now gone, we are virtually certain to qualify for every world cup from now with ease. A certain sense of accomplishment has gone.
Im also in the camp that think there are far too many games and the magic of top level football has faded for me.

I think I will end up boycotting this Saudi WC as well but maybe Im now just a grumpy old man but I find myself watching less and less top tier football and concentrating on local grass roots stuff far more appealing.

Football has become for me at the top level a soulless sport. FIFA have become a corrupt and ethically defunk organisation.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
Other than it being illegal to practice a religion other than Sunni Islam, it's punishable by death to be gay, press censorship exists and males still have guardianship over women. Oh, and apparently it's a executable offense to practice sorcery. fecking sorcery.

Oh, no. Wait. Like you said it must be racism. That'll shut down any dissenting voices now, won't it? fecking hell.
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If all these aren't allowed then why are so many western expats living and working there now and tourism is open to everyone there?
 
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MoskvaRed said:
That area held it just 2 years ago despite having under 60 m people and hopeless football teams. This is not a growth project like India or China..My country (home of the world’s biggest domestic league) last held it before I was born. Europe proper has not held it since 2006. There are other wealthy countries in Europe, N America, Australasia even S America who could host it but realise there is no point competing for obvious reasons (Swiss bank accounts). Maybe next time UAE or joint Bahrain-Kuwait bid?
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"Growth project"? Being grossly overpopulated should be celebrated right? Oh btw Qatar won the Asian cup the last 2 times. They're literally better than India and China at football. That area is literally trying to get better at football than other parts of Asia.

And since when does it matter that you need to be good at football to host a world cup. Korea, USA, South Africa national teams aren't exactly good at football, not much better than Qatar, either and they hosted it,
 
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Stack said:
The world cup has been my favourite footballing event ever since I watched the 1970 WC as a kid. I love the qualification competitions and basically take a month off work to watch the finals every 4 years.
I didnt watch the last one in Qatar, just couldnt do it. The WC is becoming or has become for me a real problem on a couple of different fronts. Maybe because Im now giving more thought to social issues than when I am younger. I struggle with the size and the ethics of the selection process, the cost and the choices of countries. Others in this thread have pointed out the double standard of protesting the human rights issues of some host countries and ignoring the war mongering efforts of other host countries. Its a fair point and I dont have a proper answer at this stage. The numbers of teams now is also a major concern. In in NZ and we are rubbish at football and in the past qualifying has been a very difficult thing to achieve. We wont ever be a major player at a world cup so just qualifying was a major event for us. Thats now gone, we are virtually certain to qualify for every world cup from now with ease. A certain sense of accomplishment has gone.
Im also in the camp that think there are far too many games and the magic of top level football has faded for me.

I think I will end up boycotting this Saudi WC as well but maybe Im now just a grumpy old man but I find myself watching less and less top tier football and concentrating on local grass roots stuff far more appealing.

Football has become for me at the top level a soulless sport. FIFA have become a corrupt and ethically defunk organisation.
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Says a European. Qatar was very popular among Asians, Africans, South Americans and in the end Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians watched it too. Even if you boycott, you won't be missed.
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
If all these aren't allowed then why are so many western expats living and working there now and tourism is open to everyone there?
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Because they're not openly gay, or openly practicing another religion, or openly practicing sorcery? Presumably because they don't want to end up in jail or be killed?
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
Says a European. Qatar was very popular among Asians, Africans, South Americans and in the end Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians watched it too. Even if you boycott, you won't be missed.
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Ah, truly a World Cup for everyone.
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
Says a European. Qatar was very popular among Asians, Africans, South Americans and in the end Europeans, Americans, Canadians, Australians watched it too. Even if you boycott, you won't be missed.
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Isn’t that kind of the point of these sports washing operations though? To improve the perception of the state from the outside?
 
Regarding the topic about migrant workers. It’s what it is they won’t get any jobs in Europe because they have no higher education. They are not refugees from war torn countries so they won’t get any jobs in Europe either. It’s very easy to point fingers and say they are taking advantage of the poor people but in the grand scheme of things they get a opportunity to feed their families no one is forcing them to go to Saudi Arabia to work. They probably live in worse conditions in their own home countries so who are we to point our fingers and say anything when our boarders are not open for them to better their lives. Recently I was in Dubai and meet a lot of different people from countries I’ve never encountered in Sweden and probably never will because we only give asuylum to people of higher education and refugees from war torn countries. Obvioulsy some people are getting mistreated and thats sad but people can also provide for their families in a way they haven’t been able to do previously.
 
UnitedRepublic said:
Regarding the topic about migrant workers. It’s what it is they won’t get any jobs in Europe because they have no higher education. They are not refugees from war torn countries so they won’t get any jobs in Europe either. It’s very easy to point fingers and say they are taking advantage of the poor people but in the grand scheme of things they get a opportunity to feed their families no one is forcing them to go to Saudi Arabia to work. They probably live in worse conditions in their own home countries so who are we to point our fingers and say anything when our boarders are not open for them to better their lives. Recently I was in Dubai and meet a lot of different people from countries I’ve never encountered in Sweden and probably never will because we only give asuylum to people of higher education and refugees from war torn countries. Obvioulsy some people are getting mistreated and thats sad but people can also provide for their families in a way they haven’t been able to do previously.
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Didn’t they have their passports confiscated, and were they not forced to live in inhumane conditions? Why would such a wealthy country behave like that?
 
Stack said:
The world cup has been my favourite footballing event ever since I watched the 1970 WC as a kid. I love the qualification competitions and basically take a month off work to watch the finals every 4 years.
I didnt watch the last one in Qatar, just couldnt do it. The WC is becoming or has become for me a real problem on a couple of different fronts. Maybe because Im now giving more thought to social issues than when I am younger. I struggle with the size and the ethics of the selection process, the cost and the choices of countries. Others in this thread have pointed out the double standard of protesting the human rights issues of some host countries and ignoring the war mongering efforts of other host countries. Its a fair point and I dont have a proper answer at this stage. The numbers of teams now is also a major concern. In in NZ and we are rubbish at football and in the past qualifying has been a very difficult thing to achieve. We wont ever be a major player at a world cup so just qualifying was a major event for us. Thats now gone, we are virtually certain to qualify for every world cup from now with ease. A certain sense of accomplishment has gone.
Im also in the camp that think there are far too many games and the magic of top level football has faded for me.

I think I will end up boycotting this Saudi WC as well but maybe Im now just a grumpy old man but I find myself watching less and less top tier football and concentrating on local grass roots stuff far more appealing.

Football has become for me at the top level a soulless sport. FIFA have become a corrupt and ethically defunk organisation.
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Great post. Respect for the text in bold, not many on here will admit that.

One of the highlights of qualifying was staying up until 5am to catch NZ play Peru (which feels like it happened every qualifying cycle) for the last spot in a 32-team WC.

They now have a whole mini-tournament in the host nation for the inter-confederation play-offs, instead of it being home and away. Due to the sheer number of teams involved. Terrible.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
Because they're not openly gay, or openly practicing another religion, or openly practicing sorcery? Presumably because they don't want to end up in jail or be killed?
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Couldn't be openly gay in Russia and South Africa either. Didn't hear so much commotion when they hosted.
 
Mr Pigeon said:
Ah, truly a World Cup for everyone.
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Well, it's most of the world's population. Europeans and Americans are welcome too, their own virtue signaling holds them up, not the countries that host it. They welcome everyone.

What's the solution? Host it in Europe or America every time? Is that a world cup that every person in the world can easily attend or watch at a convenient time zone?
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
Well, it's most of the world's population. Europeans and Americans are welcome too, their own virtue signaling holds them up, not the countries that host it. They welcome everyone.

What's the solution? Host it in Europe or America every time? Is that a world cup that every person in the world can easily attend or watch at a convenient time zone?
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If that's a consideration then why is it going back to the region that just hosted it 2 years ago? Shouldn't Australians and New Zealand have got a turn?
 
Saudi is one of the least controversial choices. Did they pay a lot of money? Probably but that's par for the course for FIFA. Bribe or get nothing.

Problems with migrant workers? Yes massive but it's not as directly related to the WC itself like Qatar as the infrastructure is already in place for the most part.

Blazing heat so need to host in the winter? Yes but there's a presedent now. WC isn't a summer thing anymore.

Not a safe or welcoming place for LBGTQA+? Very much not but football world doesn't care. They are against those rights as well, both fans and players for the most part.

It's just another bad choice in a series of bad choices however if you ignore democracy, free speech, basic human rights, scorching heat, welcoming environment for tourists then Saudi is a fantastic choice. Completely a no brainer for the mind of a FIFA exec. Endorsed by Ronaldo and Messi no less!
 
MURED said:
I know the question is not directed to me, but if this was a genuine question allow me to answer.

Don’t believe anything you hear about Saudi women in western media. The situation was dire pre-2017 but it has since changed significantly.

Women participation in labor force is now around 40% (ahead of several western countries).

In terms of jobs quality, Saudi has better women participation in tech than EU, Silicon Valley and several other countries. The assistant minister of sports (a very high position and report directly to the highest sports authority) is a woman and she’s making strides on the topic of equal pay for men and women in sports. Pay is equal between men and women in most jobs.

In terms of lifestyle, a lot of western media is criticizing us for women being allowed to drive too late (I agree, it was a huge mistake but it was fixed, can we stop talking about it please? What more can Saudi do?). Also, everything you may read about women requiring a male guardian approval to do anything is not true anymore (except I think maybe in marriage where a father blessing is required).

On hijab, it’s not required by law, women just have to dress modestly (so do men). Lots of women do not wear hijab anymore and those who do, do it by choice (or forced by society, not law).

TLDR, Saudi changed a lot after 2017. Women are (for the most part) equal to men (per law). Some societal norms need time to catch up but that’s to be expected.
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Thanks for responding and it's great that things are changing for the better. Based on how you responded I'm guessing you're from Saudi Arabia? No offense, but I'd like a woman’s POV on the matter. If you are a woman then I stand corrected.
What do you mean when you say "forced by society"? If your country has laws to abide by but then society has it's own rules then there won't really be any progress. Society needs to change before it can be considered progress. The most important thing here isn't to abide by any western rules. The only measure should be how the citizens feel living in their country. If they feel safe and respected then that's all that matters.
Lastly I hope that the same progress can be made with regards to the LGBTQ community, if it hasn't already but I know that might be something that won't change anytime soon.
 
Here we go again. A year into a literal genocide, fully funded and backed by the West, and now we’ll be lectured again about why Saudi human rights are supposedly the world’s biggest problem.
 
noodlehair said:
Right, so it's all well and good saying things that sound nice, but this is directly contradicted by viewing statistics, so is just plain false. Maybe the odd person boycotted it. A hugely vast majority, didn't.
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Please share the statistics of those who said they would boycott and then didn't.
 
noodlehair said:
As far as this forum goes. Many of the people saying they were going to boycott it, subsequently turned up in the "best world cup of all time" thread. Go and check if you want. Or just don't try to lecture me with demonstrably false arguments.
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Who? Give examples.
 
JogaBonitoRooney said:
Must only be racism against people in that part of the world. Eurocentric view and Europeans think only they should be able to watch world cup in the most convenient timezone I guess.
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:lol:

Or, you know, the plenty of other reasons listed ad nauseum on this thread alone.
 
statpadder said:
Here we go again. A year into a literal genocide, fully funded and backed by the West, and now we’ll be lectured again about why Saudi human rights are supposedly the world’s biggest problem.
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They'll gaslight you into a conversation about "whataboutism" and not applying it here. Be careful.
 
Scarlett Dracarys said:
Thanks for responding and it's great that things are changing for the better. Based on how you responded I'm guessing you're from Saudi Arabia? No offense, but I'd like a woman’s POV on the matter. If you are a woman then I stand corrected.
What do you mean when you say "forced by society"? If your country has laws to abide by but then society has it's own rules then there won't really be any progress. Society needs to change before it can be considered progress. The most important thing here isn't to abide by any western rules. The only measure should be how the citizens feel living in their country. If they feel safe and respected then that's all that matters.
Lastly I hope that the same progress can be made with regards to the LGBTQ community, if it hasn't already but I know that might be something that won't change anytime soon.
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Did you need a woman's POV before you assumed it was bad in the first place? Or were you following the narrative you've heard. Most of you haven't been to that part of the world (except Dubai for holidays) and think you know everything about the situation on ground. Is it perfect, of course not but there's a certain level of hypocrisy you show that is severely unhealthy. The West aren't bastions of human rights, see how most of them allowed the Genocide in Gaza. They pick what to be outraged about, "Israel as the right to defend itself" but God forbid Saudi host a football tournament. I can take a conversation about advocating that things need to get better in general regarding human rights and treatment of certain groups but the outright dismissal and outrage over Saudi hosting this tournament is abhorrent. I'm not from Saudi BTW but live in the region and can safely say, living here beats the West 100 times out of 10.
 
devilsadvoca8 said:
Did you need a woman's POV before you assumed it was bad in the first place? Or were you following the narrative you've heard. Most of you haven't been to that part of the world (except Dubai for holidays) and think you know everything about the situation on ground. Is it perfect, of course not but there's a certain level of hypocrisy you show that is severely unhealthy. The West aren't bastions of human rights, see how most of them allowed the Genocide in Gaza. They pick what to be outraged about, "Israel as the right to defend itself" but God forbid Saudi host a football tournament. I can take a conversation about advocating that things need to get better in general regarding human rights and treatment of certain groups but the outright dismissal and outrage over Saudi hosting this tournament is abhorrent. I'm not from Saudi BTW but live in the region and can safely say, living here beats the West 100 times out of 10.
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You’re making it sound like most posters support what’s going on in Gaza (which is not what this thread is about), when most on the forum have been critical of it. But that’s besides the point. One can be critical of Saudi Arabia and Qatar strictly on the merits of whether or not it’s a good idea to host a WC there based on the various pros and cons.
 
devilsadvoca8 said:
Did you need a woman's POV before you assumed it was bad in the first place? Or were you following the narrative you've heard. Most of you haven't been to that part of the world (except Dubai for holidays) and think you know everything about the situation on ground. Is it perfect, of course not but there's a certain level of hypocrisy you show that is severely unhealthy. The West aren't bastions of human rights, see how most of them allowed the Genocide in Gaza. They pick what to be outraged about, "Israel as the right to defend itself" but God forbid Saudi host a football tournament. I can take a conversation about advocating that things need to get better in general regarding human rights and treatment of certain groups but the outright dismissal and outrage over Saudi hosting this tournament is abhorrent. I'm not from Saudi BTW but live in the region and can safely say, living here beats the West 100 times out of 10.
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Aren't you also following the narrative you've heard about every westerner? Look at my post in the thread about the treatment of the Palestinians people. I don't support the war and not every westerner support what's happening there. You're also missing the point but that's just the narrative in here for those who turn a blind eye on reasoning and rational thinking.
The ones who support what's happening in Saudi Arabia always look for a reason to justify it without addressing the issues. Looking for faults in others won't fix the glaring issues there. It's not only westerners that recognize the human rights violations that's being inflicted every day on Saudi Arabians by their own people. The entire world sees it so I guess we're all hypocrites?
It's probably a good environment for you but it's not a good environment for all. As a woman and someone who supports freedom of choice living in that region isn't something I would even consider.
 
devilsadvoca8 said:
Did you need a woman's POV before you assumed it was bad in the first place? Or were you following the narrative you've heard. Most of you haven't been to that part of the world (except Dubai for holidays) and think you know everything about the situation on ground. Is it perfect, of course not but there's a certain level of hypocrisy you show that is severely unhealthy. The West aren't bastions of human rights, see how most of them allowed the Genocide in Gaza. They pick what to be outraged about, "Israel as the right to defend itself" but God forbid Saudi host a football tournament. I can take a conversation about advocating that things need to get better in general regarding human rights and treatment of certain groups but the outright dismissal and outrage over Saudi hosting this tournament is abhorrent. I'm not from Saudi BTW but live in the region and can safely say, living here beats the West 100 times out of 10.
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Quite apart from everything else, do you see that it's utterly dumb to use 'the West' as a monolith in this context? Unless you really believe that living in Portugal is the same experience as living in Sweden is the same experience as living in Italy is the same experience as living in Canada?
 
Raoul said:
You’re making it sound like most posters support what’s going on in Gaza (which is not what this thread is about), when most on the forum have been critical of it. But that’s besides the point. One can be critical of Saudi Arabia and Qatar strictly on the merits of whether or not it’s a good idea to host a WC there based on the various pros and cons.
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Everyone is talking in a broader sense.

But on this forum alone, do you want me to tell you which posters who are outraged and extremely active in this thread said absolutely nothing about US hosting a world cup or how the west basically funded killing of women and children with impunity?

Because I can do that and have a lot of time calling out blatant hypocrisy.
 
statpadder said:
Everyone is talking in a broader sense.

But on this forum alone, do you want me to tell you which posters who are outraged and extremely active in this thread said absolutely nothing about US hosting a world cup or how the west basically funded killing of women and children with impunity?

Because I can do that and have a lot of time calling out blatant hypocrisy.
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But just because posters don't post in a particular thread doesn't mean they don't have an opinion on the subject. For instance I haven't posted in the Palestine/Israel thread at all but that doesn't mean I'm not disgusted by the part much of 'the West' has played in it. I just don't feel informed enough to contribute anything meaningful to discussion in it as there are others that are much more clued up on it.
 
The whataboutery has clicked into gear overnight I see. Right on queue.
 
So it'll be a winter world cup?

Saudi hosting it was going to happen eventually. This is just the beginning, I can see them pushing some sort of world super league at some point too.
 
Lay said:
So it'll be a winter world cup?

Saudi hosting it was going to happen eventually. This is just the beginning, I can see them pushing some sort of world super league at some point too.
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They'll at some point start hosting Champions League finals, sooner rather than later too. Spanish and Italian SuperCups are already played there.
 
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