meed-logo

line1 line2 line3
SIGN IN / REGISTER

Saudi Arabia prepares for World Cup 2034

23 November 2023

This package also includes:

> World Cup 2034 shows Saudi goals can be achieved
> The frontrunners for the Saudi World Cup 2034 stadiums
> Read the December 2023 edition of MEED Business Review

 

It happened so fast. One month after saying it would bid to host football’s 2034 Fifa World Cup, Saudi Arabia was effectively confirmed as the host after the only other potential bidder for the tournament withdrew from the race. 

Fifa had invited member associations from the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania Football Confederation to bid for the 2034 event by the end of October. 

Saudi Arabia formally announced in early October that the Saudi Arabian Football Federation will lead its bid to host the tournament. Then on 31 October, which was the deadline for submitting bids, Football Australia issued a statement saying that the country will not bid for the 2034 tournament. 

“We have explored the opportunity to bid to host the Fifa World Cup and – having taken all factors into consideration – we have reached the conclusion not to do so for the 2034 competition,” said the body that governs the sport in Australia.

Bidding process

The official selection of Saudi Arabia as the 2034 host is expected to be confirmed in late 2024.

“The Fifa administration will conduct thorough bidding and evaluation processes for the 2030 and 2034 editions of the Fifa World Cup, with the hosts to be appointed by Fifa Congresses expected to take place by the fourth quarter of 2024,” Fifa said in its statement on 31 October, which confirmed Saudi Arabia as the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup. 

During the bidding process, “the Fifa administration will conduct a targeted dialogue with bidders, to ensure complete, comprehensive bids are received and evaluated against the minimum hosting requirements as also previously approved by the Fifa Council,” the statement continued. 

“This dialogue will focus on the defined priority areas of the event vision and key metrics, infrastructure, services, commercial and sustainability and human rights.”

The bid must include a minimum of 14 stadiums, of which at least four should be existing structures

Transformative effect

Experience from previous World Cups, including the most recent in Qatar in 2022, has shown how transformative the tournament can be for a country. “There is obviously an event at a particular point in time, but we have learnt not to look at it as an event itself, because there are all these activities that happen before and beyond the event,” says Kourosh Kayvani, partner at consultancy HKA.

“It is really about a programme of change in the country.

“This includes social change, economic change, and all of these things are ultimately achieved through the process of working towards the event, delivering it and then legacy.”

Building infrastructure

The most prominent part of the infrastructure is the stadiums. 

The bid must include a minimum of 14 all-seater stadiums, of which at least four should be existing structures. The capacity must be at least 80,000 seats for the opening and final matches, and for the semi-finals there must be at least 60,000 seats. For all other matches, at least 40,000 seats are needed. 

Saudi Arabia is already upgrading and building stadiums as part of its preparations for hosting the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. In June, the Sports Ministry invited construction firms to submit prequalification documents for contracts to build sports stadiums as part of its SR10.1bn ($2.7bn) capital projects programme. 

The schemes are split into four elements. The largest of these, and the most immediate, is the construction of a new stadium to the north of Riyadh and the upgrade of five existing football stadiums. 

The projects will increase the capacity of the King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh to 92,000 seats, expand the seating capacity of Riyadh’s Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium to 45,000, increase the capacity of Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium in Dammam to 30,000 seats and raise the seating capacity of Prince Saud bin Jalawi Stadium in Al-Khair to 45,000. New Riyadh Stadium, a sustainable, 45,000-seater venue in the north of Riyadh, will also be constructed.

Other football stadium projects are also progressing. In October, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation awarded an early works contract to the local Al-Osais Contracting for the construction of its new stadium in Dammam. It will have the capacity to accommodate 40,000 spectators. 

The new stadium will be built in the Dammam Sports City area, where the facilities of the Al-Ettifaq Football and Al-Nahda Club teams are based.

Consultants have also been invited by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to bid for a contract to provide project and asset management services for the operation and upgrade of its King Abdullah Sports City Stadium on the outskirts of Jeddah. It is the home ground of football team Al-Ittihad Saudi Club, which won its ninth championship in the 2022-23 season.

The 62,000-seater stadium was built by a joint venture of Belgium’s Six Construct and the local Al-Muhaidib Trading & Contracting. The team was awarded the estimated SR2bn ($533m) contract in 2011. Saudi Aramco developed the stadium on behalf of the government. 

In July 2022, Jeddah Central Development Company signed design and engineering contracts for the stadium at the Jeddah Central project. The design contract was awarded to GMP International and the engineering contract was awarded to Khatib & Alami.

A stadium built 300 metres above the ground between the two buildings that form part of The Line at Neom is also planned and has featured in Neom’s marketing campaigns.

As well as stadiums, Saudi Arabia will also have to invest in supporting infrastructure such as transportation networks and hotels. For the Qatar World Cup, projects including the Doha Metro network and a raft of hotel and resort developments were completed ahead of the tournament. 

“It was the first time that the World Cup was held in one city,” says Alexey Milovanov, who oversaw the construction of eight stadiums in Qatar for the 2022 tournament and, before that, was involved in building stadiums for the 2018 Fifa World Cup in Russia.

Cities across the kingdom will host the Saudi World Cup, which will make it more like the 2014 Brazil World Cup and the 2018 Russia World Cup, which were hosted by countries with large land areas and multiple centres of population. 

“For these World Cups you have to think about how to move people from one city to another, what the accommodation is like in each city, and then there are all the security requirements,” Milovanov says.

Saudi Arabia will also have to invest in supporting infrastructure such as transportation networks and hotels

Football investments

Becoming the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup is the latest milestone in Saudi Arabia’s concerted strategy to become a leading force in the growing business of global football. Speaking at the Future Investment Forum in Riyadh in October, Fifa president Gianni Infantino described the sport as a $200bn-a-year economy. 

The first clear sign of Riyadh’s football-focused strategy came in October 2021 when a consortium led by the PIF completed the full acquisition of UK football club Newcastle United from St James Holdings. 

The investment group, which also includes PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media, finalised the long-awaited deal after having secured approval from the English Premier League. The deal was estimated to be worth $415m.

Saudi football vision goes global

In November 2022, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud attended the World Cup opening ceremony in Qatar. He sat with and embraced Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani during the event, a move that emphasised the strengthening ties between the two nations. 

A few days later, the Saudi national team stunned the world when it beat event tournament winner Argentina 2-1 during a group stage match.

Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo joined the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr in December 2022. The club reportedly paid over $200m to sign the player. Within days, Al-Nassr’s Instagram account had grown from 800,000 followers to over 6 million.

In June 2023, PIF moved to boost the popularity of the kingdom’s domestic league by investing in four Saudi football clubs – Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal. They were converted into companies, predominantly owned by PIF and complemented by non-profit foundations. 

The move was followed by a summer of intense football transfer activity, which included Brazilian star Neymar signing for Al-Hilal.

Morocco plans six stadium projects for 2030 World Cup

More tournaments

The Middle East has more to cheer about than just a Saudi World Cup. Morocco, as part of a joint bid with Spain and Portugal, has been confirmed as the sole bidder to host the 2030 World Cup. 

Fifa has confirmed that the bid is the sole candidate for 2030, and to celebrate 100 years since the first World Cup in 1930, which was held in Uruguay, three matches of the 2030 tournament will be hosted in South America.

For football fans in the region who cannot wait that long, Saudi Arabia will host the 20th Fifa Club World Cup in December – a tournament contested by the best club teams from each continent.

Main image: Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo joined the Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr in December 2022

 

https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/11322047/main.gif
Colin Foreman

Register for MEED's guest program now to access this article.

Click here to register
Exclusive from Meed
Related Articles
  • Public Investment Fund backs Neom

    16 April 2026

    Commentary
    Colin Foreman
    Editor

    Register for MEED’s 14-day trial access 

    Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has backed Neom by including it as one of six strategic ecosystems in its newly approved 2026-30 strategy.

    The future of the $500bn gigaproject had been thrown into doubt following the postponement of the 2029 Asian Winter Games at the Trojena mountain resort, the cancellation of construction contracts – such as the $5bn deal with Italian contractor Webuild for dam works at Trojena – and the slowdown of development at The Line, where tunnelling contracts were cancelled and staff left the project.

    The backing comes as Neom’s operational focus appears to be evolving in response to shifting regional dynamics and global economic conditions. For example, on 15 April Neom posted on its official X account about a new Europe-Egypt-Neom-GCC corridor, describing it as a faster route for time-sensitive goods. It said the corridor combines trucking and ferry services to move goods quickly into the Gulf, adding that importers from several European markets are already using it to reach the UAE, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and beyond.

    Powered by Pan Marine, DFDS and regional RoPax services, the initiative is positioned as a way to add flexibility and resilience to regional supply chains. This emphasis on logistics and immediate trade utility suggests a shift away from the more speculative architectural announcements that characterised Neom’s early years, towards activity more directly tied to current market realities.

    PIF’s broader 2026-30 strategy places heavy emphasis on “delivering competitive domestic ecosystems to connect sectors, unlock the full potential of strategic assets, maximise long-term returns and continue to drive the economic transformation of Saudi Arabia”.

    The inclusion of Neom as a standalone ecosystem within the Vision Portfolio suggests that while the project remains part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 goals, it will be subject to the fund's focus on working with the private sector.

    That means the long-term success of Neom will increasingly depend on its ability to attract external investment and function as a viable economic hub rather than just a state-funded construction site.

    MEED’s April 2026 report on Saudi Arabia includes:

    > COMMENT: Risk accelerates Saudi spending shift
    > GVT &: ECONOMY: Riyadh navigates a changed landscape
    > BANKING: Testing times for Saudi banks
    > UPSTREAM: Offshore oil and gas projects to dominate Aramco capex in 2026
    > DOWNSTREAM: Saudi downstream projects market enters lean period
    > POWER: Wind power gathers pace in Saudi Arabia
    > WATER: Sharakat plan signals next phase of Saudi water expansion
    > CONSTRUCTION: Saudi construction enters a period of strategic readjustment
    > TRANSPORT: Rail expansion powers Saudi Arabia’s infrastructure push

    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16417262/main.jpeg
    Colin Foreman
  • Kuwait gas project worth $3.3bn put on hold

    16 April 2026

     

    State-owned Kuwait Gulf Oil Company’s (KGOC’s) planned tender for the development of an onshore gas plant next to the Al-Zour refinery has been put on hold due to uncertainty created by the US and Israel’s war with Iran, according to industry sources.

    The project budget is estimated to be $3.3bn, and the last meeting with contractors to discuss the project took place in Kuwait on 10 February.

    Previously, it was expected to be tendered in late March, but the tendering process was delayed due to the regional conflict and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

    One source said: “This tender is now effectively on hold while KGOC waits for increased stability in the region before it invites companies to bid for the contract.”

    Under current plans, the plant will have the capacity to process up to 632 million cubic feet a day of gas and 88.9 million barrels a day of condensates from the Dorra offshore field, located in Gulf waters in the Saudi-Kuwait Neutral Zone.

    Ownership of the field is disputed by Iran, which refers to the field as Arash.

    Iran claims the field partially extends into Iranian territory and asserts that Tehran should be a stakeholder in its development.

    It is believed that the Dorra field’s close proximity to Iran will make development difficult due to the current security environment.

    The offshore elements of the project are expected to be especially difficult to protect from attacks from Iran.

    In July last year, MEED reported that KGOC had initiated the project by launching an early engagement process with contractors for the main engineering, procurement and construction tender.

    France-based Technip Energies completed the contract for the front-end engineering and design.

    READ THE APRIL 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Economic shock threatens long-term outlook; Riyadh adjusts to fiscal and geopolitical risk; GCC contractor ranking reflects gigaprojects slowdown.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the April 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

    > GCC CONTRACTOR RANKING: Construction guard undergoes a shift
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16413221/main.png
    Wil Crisp
  • Iraq pushes to revive oil pipeline through Saudi Arabia

    16 April 2026

    Iraq is pushing to revive an oil pipeline that passes through Saudi Arabia, allowing it to diversify export routes.

    Saheb Bazoun, a spokesman for Iraq’s Oil Ministry, said the pipeline would help to insulate Iraq from any future blockades of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely closed since 28 February.

    The original pipeline through Saudi Arabia has not been used for more than 30 years and would need work to be done in order to bring it online.

    It is 1,568km long, extending from the city of Zubair in Iraq to the Saudi port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.

    The pipeline was built in two phases during the 1980s. The first phase stretches between Zubair and Khurais, while the second extends to Yanbu. The pipeline’s operating capacity reached over 1.6 million barrels a day (b/d).

    Following the Gulf War, the pipeline was shut down in August 1990. It has remained out of operation for decades, despite Iraq’s several attempts to restart it.

    The original pipeline project cost over $2.6bn, including storage tanks and loading terminals.

    In the wake of the US and Israel attacking Iran on 28 February, global markets have lost 11 million barrels a day (b/d) of oil supply due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

    READ THE APRIL 2026 MEED BUSINESS REVIEW – click here to view PDF

    Economic shock threatens long-term outlook; Riyadh adjusts to fiscal and geopolitical risk; GCC contractor ranking reflects gigaprojects slowdown.

    Distributed to senior decision-makers in the region and around the world, the April 2026 edition of MEED Business Review includes:

    > GCC CONTRACTOR RANKING: Construction guard undergoes a shift
    To see previous issues of MEED Business Review, please click here
    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16413290/main.jpg
    Wil Crisp
  • Algeria opens bidding for water treatment plant

    15 April 2026

     

    State-owned Cosider Pipelines, part of Algeria’s public infrastructure group Cosider, has issued a tender for the construction of a demineralisation plant in In Salah in Algeria.

    The contract covers the design, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of a plant with a treatment capacity of 62,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).

    The tender is open to local and international companies specialising in the design and construction of demineralisation and reverse osmosis desalination plants.

    The bid submission deadline is 26 April.

    The project will be located at In Salah, a key industrial area in southern Algeria, where treated water supply is important for both municipal and industrial use.

    Cosider said that individual bidders must demonstrate that they have completed at least one reverse osmosis demineralisation or desalination plant with a capacity of 20,000 cubic metres a day or more.

    They must also show an average annual turnover of at least AD1bn ($7.7m) for their five best years over the past decade.

    For consortium bids, all partners must share full responsibility for the contract, while the lead company must meet the technical and financial requirements.

    Recent projects

    In 2023, MEED reported that Riyadh-based water utility developer Wetico had won two contracts to develop water desalination plants in Algeria.

    Societe Algerienne de Realisation de Projects Industriels (Sarpi) awarded the contract for the El-Tarf desalination plant, while Entreprise Nationale de Canalisations (Enac) is the client for the Bejaja facility.

    Both plants were commissioned in 2025, each with a production capacity of 300,000 cm/d.

    Separately, Wetico was the main contractor on a third plant commissioned last year. The Cap Dijinet 2 seawater desalination plant in Boumerdes province covers 18 hectares and also has a capacity of 300,000 cm/d.

    Like many countries, Algeria is facing pressure on resources due to longer and more frequent droughts. Seawater desalination is seen as a key driver of the government’s strategy to guarantee drinking water supply.

    According to previous reports, the government is planning to build up to six additional plants by 2030.

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16404325/main.jpg
    Mark Dowdall
  • WEBINAR: UAE Projects Market 2026

    15 April 2026

    Webinar: UAE Projects Market 2026
    Tuesday, 28 April 2026 | 11:00 GST  |  Register now

    Agenda:

    • Overview of the UAE projects market landscape
    • 2025 projects market performance
    • Value of work awarded 2026 YTD
    • Impact of the Iran conflict on the projects market and real estate, assessing supply chain disruptions, material cost inflation and war risk premiums
    • Key drivers, challenges and opportunities
    • Size of future pipeline by sector and status
    • Ranking of the top contractors and clients
    • Summary of key current and future projects
    • Short and long-term market outlook
    • Audience Q&A

    Hosted by: Colin Foreman, editor of MEED 

    Colin Foreman is editor and a specialist construction journalist for news and analysis on MEED.com and the MEED Business Review magazine. He has been reporting on the region since 2003, specialising in the construction sector and its impact on the broader economy. He has reported exclusively on a wide range of projects across the region including Dubai Metro, the Burj Khalifa, Jeddah Airport, Doha Metro, Hamad International airport and Yas Island. Before joining MEED, Colin reported on the construction sector in Hong Kong.

    Click here to register

    https://image.digitalinsightresearch.in/uploads/NewsArticle/16401868/main.gif
    Colin Foreman