The 2034 FIFA World Cup will be the 25th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. In December 2024, Saudi Arabia was formally confirmed as the host nation by FIFA following an uncontested bidding process. It will be the third tournament hosted in Asia, after South Korea and Japan in 2002 and Qatar in 2022, the third in the Arab world after Qatar in 2022 and Morocco in 2030, and the first since 2022 to be hosted by one nation. Saudi Arabia will be the second host nation from the Arabian Peninsula in the span of twelve years.
FIFA restricted the hosting eligibility to Asia or Oceania after it made the decision to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup on three continents (Africa, Europe, and South America). Observers characterised this as FIFA bending its own rules to pave the way for Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 edition by substantially reducing potential competing host bids. FIFA also unexpectedly sped up the bidding timeline by at least three years, which hindered other potential bidders. According to reporting by The New York Times, FIFA president Gianni Infantino played a key role in bending FIFA's rules and facilitating the selection of Saudi Arabia as host.
Controversy around the 2034 FIFA World Cup follows heightened attention to issues such as the normalisation of sportswashing, Saudi Arabia's human rights record, migrant workers, and inter-state geopolitical tensions that surrounded the 2018, 2022 and 2026 tournaments (see Controversies, below).
Host selection
The bidding process for the 2034 World Cup began on 4 October 2023 and initially used the same requirements as the 2030 World Cup. FIFA later lowered the requirement for the number of existing stadiums with a minimum capacity of 40,000 from seven to four. Due to FIFA's confederation rotation policy, only member associations from the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania Football Confederation were eligible to host. FIFA made the decision to host the 2030 World Cup in three continents (Africa, Europe and South America) and the 2026 World Cup was set to be held in North America, which meant that the 2034 World Cup would necessarily have to be held in Asia or Oceania.
On 31 October 2023, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced that Saudi Arabia would host the 2034 World Cup, making it the third time the Asian Football Confederation has or will host the World Cup, after the 2002 tournament, which was hosted in Japan and South Korea, and the 2022 tournament in Qatar. It is also the second time it will be held in the Middle East, after Qatar in 2022.
According to investigative reporting by The New York Times, Infantino played a key role in the selection of Saudi Arabia as host. He engaged in private diplomacy on Saudi Arabia's behalf, as he explored whether Greece would be willing to partner with Saudi Arabia to host the 2030 World Cup. When Spain, Portugal, and Morocco announced that they would bid together for the 2030 World Cup, the Saudis considered it unlikely that the bid could be beaten. Thus, the Saudis backed out of bidding for 2030. FIFA subsequently made two moves that The New York Times described as "curious"; FIFA announced that the 2030 World Cup would be jointly hosted by Spain, Morocco, and Portugal, but that the first three matches would be hosted in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay as part of commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay. This decision ruled Europe, Africa, and South America out as potential bidders for the 2034 World Cup, and meant that the only potential bidders could be from Asia or Oceania. FIFA also unexpectedly sped up the bidding process for the 2034 World Cup, giving only 25 days for interested nations to express their intent to host. Within minutes, Saudi Arabia announced its intentions to host.
On 11 December 2024, FIFA confirmed that the 2034 World Cup would be hosted by Saudi Arabia. The decision was announced during an Extraordinary FIFA Congress meeting, where the hosts for both the 2030 and 2034 tournaments were finalised following a vote.
2024 Extraordinary FIFA Congress11 December 2024 – Zürich, SwitzerlandNation Acclamation
Proposed venues
The official list of the proposed stadiums was confirmed on 31 July 2024 by the bid book. The tournament is planned to be held in five cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Khobar and Abha, with a total of 14 stadiums (5 of which will be renovated, and 9 of which will be new).
+ List of candidate cities and stadiums City Stadium Capacity Riyadh King Salman International Stadium 92,760(new) King Fahd Sports City Stadium 70,200(after renovation)47,060(new) Prince Faisal bin Fahd Sports City Stadium 46,865(after renovation) King Saud University Stadium 46,319(after renovation) New Murabba Stadium 46,010(new) ROSHN Stadium 46,000(new)Prince Mohammed bin Salman Stadium46,979(new)JeddahKing Abdullah Sports City Stadium62,345(after renovation)46,096(new)Jeddah Central Development Stadium45,794(new)King Abdullah Economic City Stadium45,700(new)KhobarAramco Stadium46,096(new)AbhaKing Khalid University Stadium45,428(after renovation)
In addition to the venues, 2 FIFA Fan Festival locations have been proposed in each of the host cities. The draw of the groups will take place at the planned Line Convention Center, located in The Line, Neom.
Teams
Qualification
Controversies
Human rights
The selection of Saudi Arabia as a host has attracted controversy since the start due to human rights violations in the country. Law, human rights, and Saudi activists have asked for FIFA to put pressure on the country to improve its human rights record, similar to the pressure put on Qatar when it hosted in 2022. The trade union Building and Wood Workers' International has warned that FIFA awarding Saudi Arabia the tournament goes against their conditions of human rights. When Clifford Chance did an assessment of human rights in the country, the report was criticised by eleven rights organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The nontransparent nature of the bid has also been criticised by Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness, who stated that despite the reforms after the 2015 FIFA corruption case, little measures were taken to ensure that hosts met risk and human rights assessments; the NFF later abstained from voting on 11 December. Norwegian club Fredrikstad have put pressure on their federation to boycott the tournament.
On 11 November 2024, Amnesty International called on FIFA to stop the bidding process for the 2034 World Cup, citing human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia. On 21 November 2024, ITUC-Africa filed a complaint to the United Nations over the mistreatment of African migrant workers in Saudi Arabia and warned that the 2034 World Cup could amplify existing problems for migrant workers. On 25 November 2024, United States Senators Ron Wyden and Dick Durbin urged FIFA not to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia citing human rights concerns for citizens, workers, athletes, tourists, and members of the press in the country with no guarantee that human rights would be upheld during the tournament, especially for women and LGBTQ people whose rights would be the most at risk. In Saudi Arabia, homosexuality and transgender identities are widely seen as immoral and same sex acts are punishable by death. Three days later, German and Danish MEPs Daniel Freund and Niels Fuglsang respectively criticised the closed door nature of the bid and suggested for a boycott if the tournament was awarded to Saudi Arabia as they believed it was the only way to ensure a prevention of human rights violations. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called for FIFA to keep human rights as the top priority for hosting the tournament in Saudi Arabia. On 27 January 2025, FIFA rejected calls for an independent group to monitor the conditions of migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, stating that the government made commitments to a workers' welfare system to monitor compliance with labour rights standards for tournament-related projects. Helene Elatr, widow of assassinated Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi asked that FIFA honour her late husband during the tournament as allegations have been made against the Saudi government for their involvement in his 2018 assassination in Istanbul.
In May 2025, lawyers Mark Pieth, Stefan Wehrenberg, and Rodney Dixon submitted an official complaint to FIFA saying that the bidding process "failed to ensure that human rights standards were met". The complaint argues that by awarding the World Cup to Saudi Arabia, FIFA is obligated to ensure the country upholds human rights standards.
Despite this, some football federations that were previously critical of Qatar hosting their World Cup such as The Football Association, the Danish Football Association, the German Football Association, the Swiss Football Association, the Swedish Football Association, and the Royal Belgian Football Association, have either backed Saudi Arabia or remained silent. The DBU chairman Jesper Møller and DBU secretary general Erik Brogger Rasmussen have stated that they are optimistic that the human rights situation will improve by the start of the World Cup as part of Saudi Vision 2030; the FA stated that they would back Saudi Arabia to avoid accusations of hypocrisy if they wanted England to participate; the RBFA congratulated Saudi Arabia for their bid and were also optimistic about human rights improving; the ASF-SFV backed Saudi Arabia but called for an independent human rights group to monitor the situation; the SvFF backed Saudi Arabia's bid to much protest within the federation, resulting in several resignations after the bidding process vote; the DFB later decided to support Saudi Arabia with a goal of working to improve the human rights situation. Meanwhile, German coach Julian Nagelsmann and German captain Joshua Kimmich stated that they will not make a protest about the human rights conditions in the country like the German team did in 2022 and instead focus on football.
Immigrants Immigrants and labourers in the wider Gulf region face harsh living conditions, discrimination and racism in violation of their human rights due to the kafala system according to several NGOs. In Saudi Arabia they predominantly come from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, with the top five nationalities being India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Egypt. Amnesty International said that the human cost of awarding the World Cup to Saudi Arabia was high and that "many will die". In April 2026, the OHCHR called on Saudi Arabia to end the kafala system as despite the country's promise to implement labour reforms, no such changes had been noticed in the country's preparation for the tournament.
Deaths of migrant workers
On 12 March 2025, the first migrant worker death was reported. Muhammad Arshad, originally from Pakistan, died while working on the Aramco Stadium in Khobar. He died falling to his death from an upper level of the stadium. In May 2025, FairSquare and Human Rights Watch reported that numerous migrant workers had died from decapitation, electrocution, and from falling to their deaths among others, and that Saudi authorities were failing to protect workers from these preventable deaths, as well as not investigating workplace incidents, and not ensuring compensation for the families of those workers who died.
Alcohol On 12 February 2025, Prince Khalid bin Bandar Al Saud stated that alcohol would not be sold during the tournament, including at hotels. However, reports stated that the ban on alcohol would be lifted in 2026, allowing for limited alcohol to be sold at tourist areas such as hotels and fan fests, though Saudi authorities denied this.
Environmental impact