Saudi Arabia Awarded 2034 FIFA World Cup
Football Daily
BBC
4.3 • 4.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2024
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's been confirmed the FIFA World Cup will be returning to the Middle East in 10 years' time after FIFA awarded Saudi Arabia the hosting rights to the 2034 tournament.
Securing football’s most high-profile tournament is just the latest example of the Kingdom’s growing influence on global sport, which its critics say is in an effort to 'sportswash' the regime's reputation.
Katie Smith is joined by BBC sports editor Dan Roan and Tariq Panja, global sports correspondent for The New York Times, to provide the background to Saudi Arabia’s unopposed bid.
We hear from the president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, Yasser Al Misehal, and from Amanda Staveley, who was part of the Saudi-backed takeover of Newcastle United in 2021, on why the tournament will be a great success, while BBC sports news correspondent Laura Scott speaks to Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness about Norway's decision to abstain from the voting process for the 2030 and 2034 tournaments.
Stephen Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of housing, workers rights, and sport, and Wycombe Wanderers midfielder David Wheeler, the PFA’s sustainability champion, also join the podcast to discuss their concerns over human and the environment.
And we ask what all this means for Saudi Arabia’s huge investments in domestic football, particularly at Newcastle United.
Transcript
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| 0:44.7 | The Football Daily Podcasts. |
| 0:46.6 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:56.4 | Hello and welcome to this special episode of the Football Daily podcast with me, Katie Smith. |
| 1:01.5 | On the day it was confirmed that the FIFA World Cup would be returning to the Middle East. It is a great pleasure that I can confirm that the host of the FIFA World Cup 2034 will be Saudi Arabia. |
| 1:18.5 | Mabrook to our friends in Riyadh. |
| 1:25.0 | Mabrook to everyone. |
| 1:30.3 | So that's FIFA President Gianni Infantino there, officially announcing Saudi Arabia as the 2034 Men's World Cup host nation. |
| 1:35.9 | He was talking about 2030 as well. |
| 1:37.7 | So we'll touch on that too. |
| 1:39.5 | But securing football's most high-profile tournament, |
| 1:42.0 | just the latest example then of the Kingdom's growing influence on global sports, |
| 1:45.9 | which its critics say is in an effort to sportswash the regime's reputation. |
| 1:51.3 | So what we're going to try and do here now is give you the background to Saudi Arabia's unopposed bid, |
| 1:56.9 | discuss the concerns over human rights and the environment too, |
... |
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