In spite of the fact that Saudi Arabia has yet to build most of the the stadiums it proposed to use for the tournament, the nation’s 2034 World Cup bid beat the joint one of the US, Canada and Mexico in technical evaluation of Fifa which was 2026.
Fifa in an announcement made on Thursday gave a submission of its bid evaluation report and as such confirmed that the 2034 bid averaged as high as 4.2 although eight stadiums remain still to be built.
All venues, including King Salman international stadium in Riyadh which will have a capacity of 92,760 seats, will not be ready before 2032, however, three new ones have the potential to be completed before January 2027 when the Asian Cup starts.
At the same time, there was an erection which originally included 23 stadiums to be built, all of these were already completed. Finally, 16 host cities for the Soccer World Cup of the Year 2026 were declared where many of the venues were already built NFL stadiums.
“(Saudi Arabia) Bid incorporates several awe-inspiring multi-purpose stadiums in 1000 unique settings, Zaha Hadid Architecture for the projects including Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium for the Qiddiyah project and a replica within The Line,” the report of Fifa stated.
Fifa has also indicated that while Saudi Arabia’s “one-of-a-kind” projects in terms of stadium construction have plenty of promise, their “proposed configuration and location” would “imply a complete reassessment of operations, with some related unknowns or challenges at this point in time”.
Prince’s ambitions of creating new economic growth engines beyond oil are represented clearly through NEOM, a Red Sea urban and industrial development about the size of Belgium, intended to accommodate nearly nine million people, which is part of the Prince’s Vision 2030.
But, as it stands, costs have caused the scaling of the projects including ‘The Line’ where a futuristic wall enveloping a mirrored city of 170 km stretches and grows inside the Desert of NEOM territory.
For that reason, Fifa stated that if the bid works, it is important to ensure that these projects are correctly implemented at every stage of their realization. Fifa reiterates for full understanding the necessity of ‘touches’ across the projects under their jurisdiction.
Even ‘ethically challenged’ Saudi bids scored only medium risk but reportedly the 2026 submission carried low risk. FIFA allocated 35% of the assets to the main responding focal point, which are stadiums reported at 35% of FA center of assets.
Nonetheless, they also indicated that the risk was lessening due to the presence of a competent team within Saudi Arabia and time availability on hand to work on the projects.
Cup vote
Right before the FIFA representatives cast their votes for the World Cup next month, the Minister of Sports, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, remarked that Saudi now has a robust ‘score’ and is determined to take the game to the next level. “Fifa’s single-bid is due for approval at next month’s Congress denominated to the 2030 and 2034 world cups.’’
Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki said It is the culmination of our plans to prepare a remarkable submission. It portrays the integration of various affected parties within the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia is the only country vying to host the 2034 event. On the other hand, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain combined forces, bringing forth their single bid for the 2030 World Cup.
“We estimate that the Saudi Arabia bid will work with stakeholders to approve the timing that is their intent instead of focusing on a specific preferred time frame for the World Cup”. said FIFA about the Saudi bid.