Meed | Saudi World Cup bid bucks global trend for sporting events

Saudi World Cup bid bucks global trend for sporting events

22 August 2024

Commentary
Colin Foreman
Editor

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With 2024 being an Olympic year, sport has been in the spotlight this summer. The hero of the Paris games was French swimmer Leon Marchand, who bagged four gold medals and one bronze.

The swimming events were held in a temporary pool at the Paris La Defense Arena, which is an existing multi-purpose indoor arena that was developed as a home ground for French rugby union club Racing 92.

While other events at the games were held at existing venues, the swimming was the best example of how the Olympics has shifted from being an expensive construction endeavour to a more sustainable event that relies on a city’s existing infrastructure.

Football’s Fifa World Cup is edging the same way with its requirement for countries bidding to host the event to use four existing stadiums.

Saudi Arabia’s bid document for the 2034 World Cup was made public in July and shows five stadiums will be upgraded for the tournament. The other 10 venues, which will be newly built, buck the trend of using existing facilities.

The new structures will dominate the headlines in the coming decade. Stadiums constructed on cliff tops and 350 metres above the ground have never been built, and many will undoubtedly question their viability. There will also likely be construction welfare allegations, such as those that dogged Qatar’s lead-up to the 2022 World Cup.

Unlike Paris, which has previously hosted many major sporting events, using more existing stadiums is not an option for Saudi Arabia as it continues to develop itself as a sporting venue. What the World Cup will do, is allow the kingdom to bid for other events further in the future using existing infrastructure.