iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Sujjan Singh bags Pro Title with an outstanding seven under par 65 highlighted with seven birdies
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Asian federation expects Saudi Arabia to bid for 2030 or 2034 World Cup
Asia has staged the World Cup twice — in South Korea and Japan in 2002 and in 2022 in Qatar
Saudi Arabia's Saleh Al-Shehri celebrates after scoring a goal against Argentina in the 2022 World Cup. Saudi beat Argentina 2-1 in its opening match of the tournament. — Reuters
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, said the body wanted to host another World Cup, in 2030 or 2034, and that "Saudi Arabia is coming in force".
Asia has staged the World Cup twice: in South Korea and Japan in 2002 and in 2022 in Qatar.
"I think Saudi Arabia is a country capable of organising a similar tournament," Sheikh Salman, who is from Bahrain, told journalists in Beirut on Monday during a visit to Syria and Lebanon.
"But we have to choose the right time: 2030 or 2034? If our chance of hosting the tournament is better in 2034, we are looking into that, and if our conditions in 2030 are better, why not?"
In 2026, when the World Cup increases to 48 teams, it will split three ways for the first time with United States, Canada and Mexico as hosts.
There are two proposed multi-nation bids for 2030, one from Spain, Portugal and Morocco, and one by Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, which would return the centenary World Cup to the site of the first final, in Montevideo.
Last September, a spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports, Muhammad Fawzi, said his country was studying a joint bid with Saudi Arabia and Greece.
The Saudi Minister of Sports, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, told AFP in February that his country had not submitted a candidacy file, but added that "anything is possible."
Sheikh Salman said he wanted to make sure the AFC was united behind any bid and had support from elsewhere.
Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in sport as part of the "Vision 2030" strategy to diversify an oil-dependent economy.
Saudi Arabia will host the AFC's Women's Cup in 2026, its Asian Cup for the first time in 2027, the multisport Asian Games in 2034, and is scheduled to stage the 2029 Asian Winter Games on artificial snow in the planned giant futuristic city of Neom.
It already hosts a Formula One race in Jeddah, the annual Spanish Super Cup, golf tournaments and boxing title bouts.
ALSO READ:
More news from Sports
With the win the New Zealander moves to third place on the Race to Dubai Rankings as Dubai-based Meronk finishes tied 28th
Production City-based facility will include a Golf Academy Powered by SwingFIT in addition to re-vamped hitting bays and simulators
Director of Sports, Stuart McMurdo shares his grounded theory on how the historic venue has retained its year-round appeal
LIV Golf returns to the calendar in Chicago where the 48 players will be playing for $25 million in the Team and Individual events
Edgar Cheung's Tokyo Olympics gold turned him into a celebrity and prompted parents in Hong Kong to sign their children up for fencing classes
Al Nuaimi is preparing to represent the UAE at the Asian Games in China, provided the cut that he suffered from a head-butt by Kibazange heals
Deepak Nicholas and Pankaj Gautam beaten on the countback in the Race to Obidos Qualifier Number Two at Ajman