Hosting a World Cup can be a prestigious honour. It can happen multiple times. Hosting has many benefits. Such includes financial gains and tourism. Usually, there aren't any complaints when the host country gets announced. However, not everyone was jumping for joy when Saudi Arabia was announced.
When the bidding process for 2030 and 2034 was announced in October of last year, the FIFA Council adopted a so-called, "principle of confederation rotation" to ensure that five of it's six confederations: Europe (UEFA); South America (CONMEBOL); Asia (AFC); Africa (CAF) and Oceania (OFC), would be considered as potential hosts. Concacaf, the North and Central American confederation, was omitted due to the 2026 Men's World Cup being staged in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
FYI: Spain; Portugal and Morocco will host the 2030 tournament.
With Qatar hosting in 2022, Asia would ordinarily have had to wait until 2042 to host another World Cup under the terms of confederation rotation, but the decision to stage the 2030 tournament across three confederations (UEFA, CAF and CONMEBOL) suddenly pushed Oceania and Asia to the front of the line in 2034.
Having announced the bid selection process in October 2023, FIFA only gave potential hosts 26 days to formulate a bid proposal but when addressing the 47 AFC members during an online conference that month, FIFA president, Giovanni Infantino, called for Asia "to be united for the 2034 World Cup," prompting senior figures from Asian FA's to swiftly back the Saudi bid.
"Japan has a plan to host the FIFA World Cup by 2050, but now it's time for Asia to get united and make a single bid [for 2034]," Japanese federation official, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, said, while Indonesian Football Federation president, Erick Thohir, said, "Indonesia supports Saudi Arabia's bid to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034. Indonesia continues to prepare for its bid to host the FIFA World Cup after 2034, as well as other FIFA competitions."
The situation in Saudi Arabia, however, is that there is no free speech; there is no free press and there's gender inequality. Women and girls have few rights. It's an absolute monarchy. Human rights groups say it has one of the worst human rights records in the world. You are not allowed to express any political opinions and you are not allowed to criticise the monarchy.
Saudi would say we are transforming the country, the country is opening up to the world, 'our society is changing, we are a country that has been reliant on oil, we want to become a tourism destination, an entertainment destination, financial and tech hub and that's why we're investing in sport'.
Critics would say that's only part of the story. The bigger part of the story is you are doing this to sportswash your image. You are using sport to change your image, to project soft power, so when people think about Saudi Arabia, they don't think about human rights abuses, for instance, they think about Cristiano Ronaldo, Formula 1 or golf.
FIFA have said human rights have been part of the bid evaluation process but a lot of people think human rights haven't played enough of a part in the process.
The country has been accused of 'sportswashing' - using its unprecedented spending on sport to improve the oil-producing kingdom's reputation over its human rights record and environmental impact.
FIFA's report into the Saudi World Cup bid, external praises the "one-of-a-kind" stadium projects that have been proposed. "They have tremendous potential and will undoubtedly change the way future stadium designs and structures are approached," the report states.
In total, organisers say the Saudi World Cup will be played in 15 stadiums across five cities: Riyadh; Jeddah; Abha, Al-Khobar and Neom, an as yet unbuilt city in the north-west of the country. The plans for the Neom stadium show it will be set 350 metres above ground level and will only be accessible via high-speed lifts and driverless vehicles.
It is part of the country's 'The Line' project and has been pitched as a car-free city, just 200m (656ft) wide and 170km (106 miles) long. The Line will be taller than the Empire State Building in New York and about as long as the distance between Bristol and London.
The Qiddiya Coast Stadium will feature a ripple design to evoke the look of a Mexican wave, while the Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium in Riyadh will be located on a clifftop.
Eight of the tournament's stadiums will be in the capital Riyadh - including the planned 92 760 King Salman International Stadium, which will host the opening game and the final. Of the 15 stadiums, four are already built, eight are planned and three are under construction and will host the AFC Asian Cup in 2027.
Alcohol is illegal in Saudi Arabia and there is no suggestion that this will change before the World Cup. Punishments for drinking alcohol include fines, prison sentences and deportation.
"We have hosted over a hundred sporting events, welcoming three million sports fans with no alcohol," Hammad Albalawi, of the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Sport, said. "They have enjoyed their time and discovered what Saudi has to offer - entertainment, art, music, culture and heritage."
Same-sex relations are also illegal in Saudi Arabia and being transgender is not recognised.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises travellers to the country to respect local traditions, customs, laws and religion, "so you do not cause offence". It states that travellers can face "serious penalties for doing something that might not be illegal in the UK" and people should avoid showing affection in public.
Failure to carry personal identification can result in a fine or prison sentence.
Speaking to the BBC's sports editor, Dan Roan, last year, Saudi Arabia's sports minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, said the controversy over neighbouring Qatar's treatment of migrant workers before the 2022 World Cup was "not going to be repeated."
According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia's hosting documents show it plans extensive construction work to prepare for the World Cup, including 11 new and refurbished stadiums, over 185 000 new hotel rooms and the expansion of other infrastructure, including airports and roads.
"Saudi Arabia's massive infrastructure deficit will rest entirely on the backs of migrant workers building it," Human Rights Watch said in a report, adding that an independent analysis commissioned by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation as part of its FIFA bid was, "embarrassingly inadequate."
Rights groups point to evidence that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, has presided over numerous documented cases of torture, mass executions and forced disappearances. Domestic criticism of the state, even on social media, has been met with imprisonment and torture.
The CIA concluded with "high confidence" that MBS had personally ordered the 2018 assassination and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, at a Saudi diplomatic office in Turkey.
The kingdom has recently made massive investments in global sports, drawing accusations of "sportswashing" — the use of athletes and games to mask repression and authoritarian rule by "laundering" the image of a country.
Human Rights Watch, along with 10 other rights groups and labour organisations, including Amnesty International and Football Supporters Europe, wrote to the law firm that produced the report for the Saudi federation to voice their concerns. Human Rights Watch said there was no meaningful response from the firm.
"Not a single migrant worker, victim of human rights crimes, torture survivor, jailed women's rights advocate, or Saudi civil society member was consulted for FIFA's supposedly independent report," Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights, said. "FIFA's treatment of the Saudi bid is an abysmal failure to implement mandatory human rights risk assessments and protections for the millions of migrant workers who are going to make the 2034 World Cup possible."
I am appalled by the decision. A country that sets the standards like Saudi Arabia should never host a World Cup. Everyone is equal. There's no need for discrimination. There were plenty of other countries that could've hosted the tournament.
Despite the trepidations felt, I am, unfortunately, under the belief that nothing will come out of the protests. After all, this World Cup will only take nearly a decade from now. Times and circumstances will change. The only thing that won't change is the host country. We can only pray and hope that things change in the country.