Seven federations have submitted their bids for two World Cups
Saudi Arabia lodged its bid book for 2034 to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom in Paris on Monday.
Spain, Portugal and Morrocco federations submitted their bids for 2030 while Argentina, Paraguay and Morocco applied to host the opening three matches of the tournament to celebrate the competition’s centenary.
Even though they are the only sole bidders for 2030 and 2034, FIFA rules require a formal bid process.
FIFA will now assess the bids, visit the countries and publish evaluation reports.
If the hosting requirements are met, FIFA Congress will appoint and announce the hosts in December.
FIFA says it is committed to integrating human rights requirements into bidding processes.
Amnesty International has called on FIFA to “conduct genuinely independent human rights risk assessment of each bid”.
Amnesty has accused Saudi Arabia of sportswashing and criticised its human rights and women’s rights record.
Homosexuality is criminalised in Saudi Arabia but the Saudi federation president Yasser Al Misehal says “everyone will be welcome” to the tournament.
A decision on whether the Saudi tournament would be a winter World Cup is unlikely to be made this year.
The international match calendar has not been agreed for that far in the future so it would have to be agreed at a later date.
