It was announced this week that the 2034 World Cup will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. This has engendered a lot of criticism due to the fact that Saudi Arabia has many democratic and human rights problems. Well, I think it is not a new issue as FIFA has awarded tournament's before without any political or human rights considerations, but rather cold-hearted economic calculations.
FIFA is first and foremost a money machine, and this has probably been the main criteria in selecting Saudi Arabia. That said, other concerns risk undermining the quality and love we fans feel for the World Cup, and one of these changes will already be seen at the 2026 World Cup in USA-Mexico-Canada: the 48 team tournament is just too big, too many teams, too many mediocre matches that will be watched mainly by people from the nations playing them... With already too many tournaments and too many matches, the World Cup risks drowning in the infinity of choices; it will no longer be special...
Secondly these multi-host tournaments that will in 2030 include three "main" hosts (Spain, Morocco and Portugal), with additional matches to be played in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
It is simply too much, too massive.
Perhaps a symbol of our time when everything needs to be bigger and more extravagant, but I can assure one thing: despite the social media hype it will not be better than the World Cups that made my generation dream and love football.
I will of course keep watching the World Cups; I even hope that I will be able to get tickets for 2026 in Mexico through the murky and elitist FIFA ticketing procedures.
That will be another challenge...
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