World Cup hosts will be ratified during the Fifa CongressA history of World Cup sportswashing | And email NiallThe World Cup is heading to Saudi Arabia. This afternoon’s virtual Fifa congress in Zürich will officially confirm the 2034 hosts (and those of the multinational 2030 tournament), but this is a done deal. The speed at which a Saudi World Cup has developed from distant fear to total certainty has been breathtaking, and leaves plenty of difficult questions unanswered. For instance, was the decision to host the 2030 event across six countries on three continents – trumpeted as a tribute to the tournament’s centenary – actually a convenient excuse?With Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay (Conmebol), Spain and Portugal (Uefa) and Morocco (Caf) all sharing hosting rights, it left Asia and Oceania as the only choices for 2034. Fifa then opened the bidding process without warning, and while Saudi Arabia had a glossy document ready to go – packed with dystopian visions of glowing extra-terrestrial arenas – other interested parties had 25 days to get their act together. Australia were the only realistic competition, but soon ran out of time. Continue reading...
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