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All has gone as FIFA president Gianni Infantino wanted. The choreographed hosting awards of the 2030 and 2034 have been approved by FIFA Congress without anyone in the building, without any competition and with barely the slightest squeak of protest.
Pragmatism, rather than association football, is the name of the game.
An online extraordinary congress and ‘vote’ by electronic acclamation was the simple technical expedient through which Morocco, Portugal and Spain were named to play host in 2030 – with opening matches in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay as a gesture to the centenary – and then Saudi Arabia as lone host nation for 2034.
Just to ensure no room for official argument, FIFA Council accepted a report on Tuesday “that all candidacies have exceeded the minimum hosting requirements” and that an “independent auditor’s reports [had] concluded that both evaluation processes were executed with objectivity, integrity and transparency.”
So there.
Never mind the eco-unfriendly transatlantic, six-nation Odyssey in 2030, never mind the howls of outrage from human rights bodies ahead of 2034; Infantino has exactly what he wanted to suit his political purposes and the financial expectations of the vast majority of the world federation’s 211 member nations.
Amnesty International and the Sport & Rights Alliance had called on FIFA to halt the process to pick Saudi Arabia as 2034 hosts unless major human rights reforms had been promised before congress.
However even those FAs – like the Nordic nations – who had expressed reservations about Saudi sportswashing reasoned that if other sports were happy to capitalise on the regime’s image-polishing strategy then football need not shy away from accepting the same invitation from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
DISTRACTIONS
All 211 FIFA members joined the congress online. A letter protesting about the “process” from Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness was read into the minutes as was a letter from the Swiss federation raising concerns about ongoing monitoring of the various contentious issues.
Distractions dispelled, Infantino duly invited congress to “make history” on behalf of a sport which was “a social phenomenon, capable of bringing together people from south, north, east and west in a peaceful, joyful and respectful way.”
The wide screen in Zurich fluttered to life in cubes of acclamatory applause: hence the 2030 World Cup will be staged in Morocco, Portugal and Spain with a three-way opening in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay before 2034 sees the “largest single-nation” finals in Saudi Arabia.
Job done. FIFA future perfect.
AIPS Media/Keir Radnedge - AIPS Football Delegate Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images
