This was never supposed to happen again!
Such a feeling has certainly taken hold of many people in recent weeks, when they have been following the news about the activities of the international football association Fifa.
Last year’s criticized World Cup in Qatar was supposed to be the last of its kind, but Saudi Arabia is just the last touch to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. In the background, there was quite a bit of giggling so that Saudi Arabia remained the only applicant on Tuesday.
The situation is alarming, even though something like this has been planned for a long time. As has become known in Finland as the “football doctor”. Sami Kolamo stated to Urheilu, Saudi Arabia has the same problems as the already criticized World Cup in Qatar and on an even bigger scale.
Just less than a year ago, there was a lot of talk about the deaths of migrant workers and human rights violations in Qatar, but the situation in Saudi Arabia is even darker by many standards.
To top it all off, the president of Fifa Gianni Infantino even announced directly on his Instagram account that Saudi Arabia will organize the competitions.
Infantino’s Instagram update is absolutely hilarious. So he already outlined that the games will be played in Saudi Arabia. Fifa however, had informed earlier on the same daythat Saudi Arabia must pass criteria related to human rights and sustainable development, among other things.
In Fifa’s schedules, the tournament host is not locked in until the last quarter of next year. Before that, I had to go through the documents related to the World Cup application and evaluate them.
Still, Infantino managed to give the games to Saudi Arabia on his own Instagram account. And the update can’t really be called a personal release either, because it’s also connected to the official account of the World Cup.
Infantino also stated in his Instagram update that ten different host countries and five different game continents for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups were accepted by consensus of the Fifa executive board. According to Infantino, the board of directors includes all six continental confederations.
On top of that, the Swiss-Italian lawyer stated that the application process was approved after “constructive dialogue” and “extensive consultation”.
The big question arises, however, who all have been involved in this “constructive dialogue” and “extensive consultation”?
President of the Football Association Ari Lahti spoke about his disappointment with the slander behind closed doors, the president of the Norwegian Football Association Lise Klaveness believed in tampering and demanded further investigation into the application process. However, the 2026 World Cup host was voted on between two options among the Fifa member countries.
The big question is, does Fifa care about its own rules or the criticism of its own members?
In his update, Infantino also talked about how with these World Cup host decisions, i.e. a total of ten host countries and five different continents, football is made global.
Even this view can be questioned in the sense that, for example, only three matches will be played in South America in 2030. In the background are the celebrations related to the 100th anniversary of the World Cup. The first World Cup was played in South America in 1930.
The 2030 World Cup matches in South America also actually opened the possibility for Saudi Arabia to host the World Cup, because according to Fifa, the same continent cannot have consecutive World Cups. Now, 3 matches out of a total of 104 matches were enough for this circular interpretation.
Infantino was supposed to lead the “new Fifa”, but it turned out differently
Infantino has broken his promises in every way in an ugly way with recent events.
Infantino was elected president of Fifa, which was mired in corruption scandals, in early 2016. At the end of the same year, Infantino spoke in a lofty tone in an interview with the Spanish newspaper Marca. Infantino spoke of a “new Fifa” when asked about restoring confidence in Fifa’s operations.
– We show that trust can be restored with hard work. Only then can we show people that this is the new Fifa and we are in a new era in terms of how we manage football. We work hard and with enthusiasm, Infantino told Marca.
Infantino stated how he wants Fifa to be a transparent organization in the coming years. He was also asked in the same Marca interview about the strangeness of the World Cup in Qatar, which was looming six years later. That’s when Infantino brought up the human rights articles brought into the 2026 World Cup host selection.
Now these speeches seem to have been forgotten. The Italian-Swiss lawyer has eaten his words. Hard work has obviously been done in order to return to the old ways after the start that raised promises.
There are also many wonderful details associated with the World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Due to the heat of the country, in 2032 we are again likely to mix up the international competition calendar and, like Qatar, exceptionally play the World Cup in winter. The players’ health concerns, which were much talked about at the time of the World Cup in Qatar, are no longer felt anywhere.
In the application for the 2034 World Cup, only four completed stadiums out of fourteen were required, while the requirement for the 2030 World Cup was seven completed stadiums out of fourteen. So even in sustainable development, we give up.
There have been enough commotions like this around Infantino during his almost eight-year presidency, but now the Saudi Arabia scandal has gone the worst way.
So far, the international media has not been able to ask Infantino about recent decisions. Fifa had also communicated to the Norwegian broadcasting company NRK that Fifa would not comment on Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian Football Association, regarding further investigations.
The new Fifa seems to have returned to the old money-hungry Fifa. Saudi Arabia will now also be able to sport its sports underwear and polish its bloody shield during the world’s biggest sporting event.
The hosts of the FIFA World Cup in the 21st century