Gianni Infantino — pictured at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia — appears to favor the 2023 World Cup host country of the year. Photo: Getty Images/Alexey Druzhinin
Fourteen stadiums with a capacity of 40,000 or more seats and at least one stadium with 80,000 seats; 72 training camps combined with hotels; two international broadcast sites; two sites for fan festivals, and then hotels for FIFA employees — with unusually specific requirements for sports halls and swimming pools.
Hosting a World Cup final is no easy task, as detailed in the 2034 bid document released on Friday, although it is the sections on tax obligations and immigration controls that really grab the breath. Spoiler: FIFA wants to make exceptions. This is daunting for any country involved in the bidding process, especially those operating within a framework of democratic accountability. Australia has just eight weeks to make a decision.
The deadline to declare the 2034 World Cup, 11 years away, was the latest announcement from FIFA president Gianni Infantino this week. It has been set for November 30 and it appears that the now diminishing prospect of Australia's 2034 bid is at best a nuisance and at worst a nightmare for FIFA. What if they defy the odds and win?
FIFA's preferred bidder is Saudi Arabia, and given the new FIFA scandal that has emerged since 2015, the process should appear legitimate. However, while Football Australia was stunned by the 2034 announcement, the Saudi Football Federation [SAFF] appears to have come to terms with it. The SAFF President announced his candidacy live. Even Jordan Henderson provided a message in the style of a proof-of-life video in support.
For now, Football Australia is employing the kind of polite diplomacy towards FIFA that can be recognized from the English Football Association's doomed bid for the 2018 finals 14 years ago. But now, as then, one can feel a quiet mistrust of the scale of the division.
There are cynical FIFA watchers who can't help but admire the political expediency of FIFA's hosting decision by 2030, which will buy in one go UEFA, South America's Concacaf and Africa's CAF. In doing so, he left 2034 wide open for Infantino's new project, Saudi Arabia — provided Australia could pull out. Like the English Football Association, which has repeatedly failed in bids, Australia has lost before — in the unfair 2022 race won by Qatar. At some point, the crumbs from FIFA's table will have to be swept away.
Saudi Football Federation President Yasser al-Misehal hopes to host the second World Cup in the Persian Gulf. Photo: Getty Images/Khaled DESUKI
For now, it's all about Infantino's new partner, an emerging super-rich state in the Middle Eastern fossil fuel economy. Saudi Arabia already enjoys the support of its continental body, the Asian Football Confederation, which includes Australia. On Friday, an old FIFA tradition was revived: a promise of support for a bid that preceded any technical or economic assessment. First FA Djibouti and then Kenya competed for Saudi Arabia. Africa, of course, is the mainstay of Infantino and Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, European associations wondered when exactly Infantino would turn to the unspoken giant: Saudi Arabia in 2034 would mean another winter World Cup in the northern hemisphere. Even more chaos in planning. The battle for control of the match calendar is already heating up between UEFA and its expanded Champions League and the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup.
In Saudi Arabia, Infantino has a partner wealthy enough to help realize his dream of FIFA becoming the dominant competition organizer and source of income. Currently this is not even close. Over a four-year cycle, UEFA earns around £17 billion from the Champions League, European Championships and Nations League — its only profitable competitions. In every three-year cycle, Premier League bank broadcast revenues exceed £10 billion, a figure likely to rise. Even with £9 billion forecast for the 2026 World Cup, it remains one of FIFA's key sources of income.
The process of awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals to non-democracies ultimately brought down Sepp Blatter, although little has changed when it comes to courting dictators. Saudi Arabia and its leader Mohammed bin Salman were high-profile participants in the Qatar tournament last year, desperate for the geopolitical capital their tiny neighbor has earned. After Qatar, FIFA's relations with Saudi Arabia are developing so rapidly that the confrontation between FIFA and UEFA can be viewed as a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The Qataris control UEFA, while Nasser Al-Khelaifi controls the European Club Association, a key ally of UEFA President Aleksandar Ceferin. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has formed such a strong alliance with FIFA that it took a public outcry to stop travel agency Visit Saudi's bid to sponsor the Women's World Cup earlier this year.
The Women's World Cup in Australia has been rightly praised, but the wait for the men's tournament may well continue. Photo: Getty Images/David Gray
Infantino will, of course, point to the Saudis as a privileged trading partner of the US and UK. About his investments in Newcastle United, the Saudi Professional League and all other sports and Western organizations receiving Saudi royalties. If the rest are engaged in business, then why not proselytize the FIFA President?
Basically it is about expanding FIFA's power and creating an alliance that will be extremely useful in the fight for control of football and its wealth. Infantino can't wait. Even if Australia can catch back-to-back ducks, it's unlikely to be enough. The outstanding women's final Australia played against New Zealand this year was to be the gateway to staging the men's final in 2034, a first for Oceania. But this is not the case.
The 2034 decision will be made at the FIFA Congress next July under the auspices of FIFA's new commitment to transparency. Infantino will no doubt point to the 37-member FIFA Council, on which English FA chairman Debbie Hewitt sits along with other UEFA association representatives, albeit in a bloc too small to challenge the president. The final vote will be taken by the 211 member nations rather than the 22-member executive committee as in past years.
This will be FIFA democracy in action and there is only a slim chance that Australia is still in contention to win Saudi Arabia in 2034. Most likely, there will be only one contender, and that is what FIFA would prefer.
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