A surprise? Saudi Arabia 'bought' themselves a World Cup

When Qatar won the organization of the previous FIFA World Cup, it was a shock for the whole world, but also for the region there...

Especially for the neighbors from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia who also had plans to "buy" the organization of the World Cup one day and did not really expect that Qatar would turn the plans into action. Surprised that the Qatari lobby had completed the job so successfully, they were jealous that one of them was not the first to bring the World Cup to the Arab world. Then they asked to join and to get the organization of at least some matches of the group stage, but the Qataris refused them and kept what they bought for themselves.

It later turned out that the votes were bought and that the first man of FIFA, Gianni Infatino, moved to live in Qatar in luxury. The cunning Swiss smelled where the money was and opened all the doors of world football to the Arabs. Saudi Arabia did not easily forget the humiliation of its "little neighbors" from Qatar, and while they watched Doha become the capital of the world for a month, they decided to do the same.

Last winter, a football storm started from the Saudi land. The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo heralded the beginning of a new era of world football, and other stars such as Neymar, Benzema, Mahrez, Mane, Mitrović, Kante, Firmino, Milinković Savić, Neves, Laporte, Kessie, Brozović, Carrasco started arriving after him this summer. Renowned coaches such as Jorge Jesus, Steven Gerrard, Matthias Jaissle, Nuno Espirito Santo have also found employment with the wealthy Arabs...

The entire football project, which is speculated to be worth 20 billion dollars, had as its ultimate goal the organization of the World Cup in 2030.

Inconvenient for Infantino and associates was the strict rule that a continental confederation could not win the organization of the World Cup within eight years. And since Qatar has already taken the Asian place, the Saudis tried to circumvent the rules by organizing a joint organization with Egypt and Greece, which would be secondary factors.

Also, it was expected that the centenary of the world championships would be celebrated where it all began - in Montevideo. Even so, football history and tradition should mean something to FIFA... However, European interests and votes had to be satisfied, since the Spanish and Portuguese also had promises to organize the World Cup.

In the end, Infantino and FIFA found a way to satisfy everyone. The South Americans have been given the consolation prize of hosting the first three matches of the 2030 World Cup, and then the show moves to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The Saudis were told to be patient and wait for 2034, which was not 'promised' to anyone yet.

Australia, which wanted to organize the first World Cup in that part of the world, was mentioned as the only competitor to the Saudis. Aware of the situation, what kind of power games are involved and how much money the Arabs have at their disposal, the Australians today decided to withdraw from the race for the organization.

"Australia will not be a candidate to host the 2034 World Cup after all factors have been taken into consideration," announced Australia's football federation.

Thus, in the race to organize the World Cup in 2034, only one candidacy remains - Saudi Arabia. The deadline for submitting candidacy ends today.

The 2034 World Cup will be played in Saudi Arabia.