Over the years, there have been a number of interesting venues when it comes to the World Cup, though, arguably, the most intriguing is likely to be the 2034 World Cup, hosted by none other than Saudi Arabia, which has considerably flexed its financial muscles over the last few years.
As a result, this has seen many of Europe’s top players, such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar drawn to play for numerous clubs, due to their ability to offer significantly higher wages, which has seen the nation embark on a considerable investment plan to make it a major attraction for football. The country itself could become a major hotspot to bet on football over the next few years, if this becomes legalised – especially with the World Cup.
The World Cup will further help to raise its profile, over the next decade and beyond – at least, that is the hope – consequently, there are major plans to commit a substantial amount of investment towards this.
What Could Be On The Agenda In Terms of Venues?
While the country already has a number of stadiums that may host some of the games, plans are already in place to build and develop what could turn into be some of the most impressive in the world, in time for the World Cup.
Saudi Arabia’s ambition for the 2034 FIFA World Cup is off the charts. The country has unveiled 15 stadiums that will host matches: 11 will be new builds, two existing stadiums will be temporarily expanded, and a further two existing venues will be renovated 👉… pic.twitter.com/rYrOLELJvQ
— The B1M (@TheB1M) November 2, 2024
One of these is the Riyadh Mega Stadium, which is one of a few that are understood to be in the pipeline. It is understood that this will cost in the region of $1 billion to $1.2 billion and is expected to hold approximately 90,000 people, which would make it one of the largest of the new developments.
The country wants this to be the jewel in the crown of the 2034 World Cup and is a favourite to host the final. Features for this that have been proposed, include a retractable roof, modular seating, advanced climate control in order to offset the heat from the desert, plus numerous technological advancements. These could include 5G connectivity, interactive fan screens and AR (Augmented Reality) viewing experiences for fans.
In addition, in line with the country’s environmental goals for 2030, it is also expected to incorporate renewable energer sources, which could include solar panels.
There is also the Neom Stadium, that is being planned to host around 70,000 people, with a projected cost of between $500 million and $700 million. Its name is based on the planned futuristic city of Neom (or ‘The Line’), which aims to utilise smart, futuristic technology and it envisions to have many different advanced features. These could include holographic entertainment options, digital ticketing, and AI-powered crowd management systems, while in order to ease efficiency, it wants to seamlessly integrate with surrounding facilities making it easy for fans to travel to and from their accommodation.
Also on the agenda, is the Quiddiya Sports City Stadium, which will boast a modest 60,000 capacity, with a projected cost of $500 million. This will be a major development of Quiddiya, which is classed as an ‘entertainment city’ near Riyadh, which means that there will be plenty for fans to do.
The stadium will have luxury suites, with almost direct access to adjacent hotels of the stadium, offering the utmost convenience to fans.
In terms of the current stadiums that it has right now, the country is planning to significantly upgrade them to bring them in line with the new stadium builds, integrating the latest technology, while also possibly expanding their capacity as well. This could well include the King Abdullah Stadium, nicknamed the ‘Jewel’, where both Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad play, which can hold in excess of 62,00 people.
Saudi Arabia envisions this World Cup to attract the largest audience of any in history and is planning to pull out all of the stops to make this happen, with an almost bottomless pit of money being available to help achieve this.
What appears to be in no doubt at all, is the country’s commitment to the World Cup and the plans that are in place already demonstrate that it means business. One thing that will be interesting is that, whether by then, the country is still able to attract the top players from Europe, in addition to what its status is in the footballing world and how much is invested in national talent to give the country the best chance possible of impressing on the world stage.