Saudi Arabia launches formal bid to host 2034 World Cup

Saudi Arabia has launched its formal bid to host the 2034 World Cup, as it looks to become the second country from the Middle East to hold the tournament.

With Morocco, Portugal and Spain set to share the hosting of the 2030 tournament, football's world governing body Fifa limited the 2034 contest to bidders from the Asian and Oceania confederations.

No other country expressed an interest before Fifa's October 2023 deadline, after Australia opted out of contesting for the global finals, meaning that the kingdom's bid is all but certain to succeed.

Qatar became the first Middle East nation to stage the finals when it hosted the tournament won by Lionel Messi's Argentina, who defeated France on penalties in the 2022 final.

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation said its “Growing. Together.” World Cup campaign would showcase the way the nation was strengthening bonds with other countries through sport.

The kingdom has invested heavily in high-profile sports such as Formula One, boxing and golf over the last few years, while the Saudi Pro League has attracted some of the biggest names in world football including Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Sadio Mane.

The Saudi national team is now coached by Roberto Mancini who won the Euro 2020 tournament when manager of Italy and was in charge at Manchester City when they secured their first Premier League title in 44 years in 2012.

“Telling our football story to the world is of massive importance. And we believe 'Growing. Together.' is the perfect, yet simple description of our approach to hopefully hosting the tournament in 10 years’ time,” SAFF president Yasser Al Misehal said in a statement on Friday.

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