Saudi Arabia is considering a joint bid for the 2030 World Cup, with new European champions Italy understood to be top of their list of potential partners.
Once frowned upon by world football’s governing body FIFA, joint bids are now encouraged as they reduce the financial burden of hosting the event, especially as it is growing to 48 teams and 80 games from 2026, when the tournament will be staged in Canada, Mexico and United States.
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US-based global consultancy firm Boston Consultancy Group is understood to be advising Saudi Arabia on its potential bid and it is suggesting the oil-rich state make the broadest possible coalition.
One suggestion is the Saudis team up with Egypt and Morocco to make a “MENA bid” (Middle East and North Africa), which would theoretically unite the African and Asian football confederations.
While that bid makes geographic sense, it would need Egypt and Morocco to make huge infrastructure improvements and there would be concerns about the commercial success of the tournament, the impact on the countries’ economies and security issues.
So, a European partner would be a safer option and several sources have told The Athletic that Italy is the most likely candidate, which would mean the Italians taking on the English once more for the big prize, as the four British home nations are considering a united bid with the Republic of Ireland.
On Thursday, the president of the Italian football federation, Gabriele Gravina, told a news conference that Italy “will evaluate an Italian candidacy for the 2028 European Championship and the World Cup of 2030, in which the centenary of the world championship is celebrated”.
Italy has hosted four major football tournaments over the last 87 years but it has not spent much money on its stadiums since it hosted the 1990 World Cup, which is where Saudi investment could help.
The two countries already enjoy close business, diplomatic and sporting relations. For example, next January, Saudi Arabia will host the Italian Super Cup — the annual game between the previous season’s league and cup winners — having already staged two previous editions.
It is also understood that the much-anticipated Saudi alternative to beIN Sports, the Qatari-based pay-TV giant that dominates the MENA region, is about to launch, with Serie A’s rights being its first big-ticket item.
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Saudi Arabia has been pouring money into sports and tourism projects in recent years in an attempt to diversify its economy and boost its reputation on the global stage — it has already attracted events such as Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight title rematch against Andy Ruiz, the Dakar Rally and this year’s inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as well as international golf and tennis competitions.
Hosting the World Cup, though, would be the ultimate prize for a football-mad country, particularly after its far smaller neighbour and regional rival Qatar has staged the 2022 edition.
Saudi Arabia has become increasingly active within the football industry in the two years, from its sovereign wealth fund’s high-profile attempt to buy Newcastle United last year, to its recent support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s idea of staging the World Cup every second year, not every fourth.
Saudi money is also believed to have been behind two of Infantino’s earlier brain waves: an expanded Club World Cup and a global Nations League. The latter has been quietly shelved but the former has received FIFA backing, although it has not nailed down a place in the calendar yet. It has even been suggested that Saudi money was underpinning the short-lived European Super League though there is no evidence of that.
What all this activity demonstrates is that sport is central to Saudi Arabia’s vision for its future, and football is its favourite sport. Saudi involvement in a World Cup bid, though, would provoke considerable controversy.
It is an absolute monarchy, with a legal system based on Sharia law. It has a poor record for human rights, media freedoms and religious tolerance.
Mohammed bin Salman, the 35-year-old crown prince, has introduced some reforms, such as letting women drive, banning child marriage and reducing the use of capital punishment, but much of the goodwill these moves generated disappeared following the conspiracy to murder dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, as well as Saudi’s ongoing involvement in Yemen’s brutal civil war.
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However, Saudi Arabia will never be on the naughty step for long as it is the world’s largest exporter of oil and has the biggest economy in the Middle East.
Its entry into the 2030 race, therefore, will only add to the British and Irish bid’s headaches, after what has been a disastrous week for its prospects.
Everyone associated with the bid knows it will have no chance unless it runs an almost perfect campaign — the shocking scenes before Euro 2020’s final at Wembley on Sunday have used up all of the bid’s lives before FIFA has even officially fired the gun on the race, which is not expected until next spring.
By that time, however, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin wants all 55 member associations in Europe to be united behind one bid and he is understood to be leaning towards the Iberian bid proposed by Spain and Portugal.
There are several reasons for this and many of them have not changed since the last time England bid for a World Cup in 2010. That ended in embarrassing failure, with many English football administrators and politicians saying “never again”.
The Football Association, however, has never given up hope of hosting the tournament for a second time and believes the reforms FIFA has made after that contentious vote for the 2018 and 2022 hosts give a bid that involves England a fighting chance. And that seems to be all prime minster Boris Johnson, an eternal optimist, thinks England needs.
He invited Ceferin to Downing Street last week and had a private meeting with FIFA boss Infantino before Sunday’s final. Having been given eight of the 51 games at Euro 2020, including the last three, the English FA and Johnson could be forgiven for thinking they were in UEFA’s good books, particularly after the government agreed to increase Wembley’s capacity to two-thirds full and let 2,500 VIPs into the country without quarantining.
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And that might have been the case if Wembley had actually been two-thirds full on Sunday, as opposed to almost entirely full, thanks to thousands of ticketless fans violently forcing their way into the stadium, having spent most of the day loudly trashing the neighbourhood.
With one game, the British and Irish bid lost its two greatest weapons — the reputation of its great stadium and prowess as an events organiser — while reminding everyone of its Achilles heel, hooliganism.
Given the fact every bidding nation has strengths, weaknesses, strong narratives and horror stories, Sunday would not have been such a disaster if the British and Irish bid was starting on level footing with the Iberian bid, let alone one from Italy and Saudi Arabia or the expected challenges from South America and the Far East, where China is considering whether 2030 is too early to collect the almost free pass FIFA has given it for hosting a World Cup.
But the British and Irish bid was already behind in Europe, and elsewhere, thanks to perceptions of English arrogance (not helped by Brexit), jealously of the Premier League’s financial and sporting success, our refusal to learn foreign languages, memories of our colonial past and half a dozen other complaints that are very difficult for any bidding team to shift, no matter how charming and humble they are, or how popular the Irish, Scottish and Welsh are in football circles.
The Athletic has spoken to several experts on bidding contests and all believe a British and Irish bid could still win but it has badly damaged its chances and cannot afford any more mistakes.
It must also hope that the likes of Italy or Spain and Portugal can be persuaded to go for a clearer run at Euro 2028 than what will be a long campaign against strong challenges from elsewhere, some with much deeper pockets than the football associations of these islands.
(Top photos: Getty Images)
