Saudi Arabia is pouring trillions of dollars into 2034

Saudi Arabia is seeking the world cup, a global rebrand, and massive investments.

In an extraordinary general congress last Wednesday, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced the holding of 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia. After the country launched a controversial and uncontested bid to host. While the 2030 World Cup will be held across Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

The 2030 and 2034 World Cups had single bids each, both receiving confirmation by the applause of more than 200 FIFA member federations.

For Saudi Arabia, there’s a lot more at stake. Saudi Arabia has been pouring trillions of dollars and the country wants to attract 150 million tourists a year by 2030.

• The country is set to become the world’s largest construction market, with outputs reaching towards $181 billion by 2028 end, according to the real estate group Knight Frank.

• The kingdom is planning to build 11 stadiums for the tournament from scratch, while upgrading four. One of the stadiums will be in the controversial megacity Neom.