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Why was there no bid to rival Saudi Arabia for the 2034 World Cup? (2:24)
On ESPN's The Football Reporters podcast, Mark Ogden and James Olley slam the lack of transparency in the bidding process for the 2034 FIFA World Cup. (2:24)
ESPN
Dec 11, 2024, 10:00 AM ET
The 2034 World Cup will be held in Saudi Arabia and the 2030 World Cup will be held across Morocco, Portugal and Spain with three one-off matches held in three South American countries, FIFA confirmed in an extraordinary general congress on Wednesday.
The decision was announced by FIFA president Gianni Infantino following a virtual congress. The 2030 and 2034 World Cups each had only a single bid and both were confirmed by acclamation by the applause of more than 200 FIFA member federations.
"We are bringing football to more countries and the number of teams has not diluted the quality. It actually enhanced the opportunity," Infantino said about the 2030 World Cup.
"The vote of the congress is loud and clear," said Infantino, who had asked officials on a bank of screens to clap their hands at head level to show their support.
Saudi Arabia was the only bidder for the 2034 edition of tournament.
The 211 member federations were also presented with a sole voting option for the 2030 competition in which Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina -- who had earlier promoted a rival co-hosting bid -- will each host one match to start the tournament.
This will allow FIFA to stage the opening game in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, where the Centenario Stadium hosted the inaugural 1930 World Cup final a century earlier.
In 2023, FIFA said that the 2034 World Cup would be held in the Asia or Oceania region, with the Asian Football Confederation throwing its support behind the Saudi bid.
Australia and Indonesia had also been in talks over a joint bid, but dropped out.
FIFA announced that both bids would be uncontested in 2023, leaving little room for doubt.
On Tuesday, the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) said it would vote against the awarding of hosting rights by acclamation and criticized FIFA's bidding process, saying it was "flawed and inconsistent".
All host nations will get automatic entry to the newly expanded 48-team tournament.
FIFA is facing a battle against Europe's major leagues, including the Premier League and LaLiga, over plans for a winter World Cup in Saudi Arabia with sources telling ESPN that "concrete agreement" would be needed from leagues and players for the fixture calendar to be hit by such disruption.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
