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FIFA has officially confirmed the 2034
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men's World Cup will be hosted in Saudi
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Arabia it's a move that is set to see
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Saudi Arabia following the footsteps of
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their golf neighbors Qatar in staging a
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winter World Cup and it has been more or
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less a done deal for more than a year
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leading up to today's announcement but
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European football leagues including
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England's Premier League are not happy
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with the plans which will mean that they
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have to pause their domestic leagues
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while the World Cup takes place in
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recent years Saudi Arabia has made sport
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a key pillar of diversifying its economy
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plowing billions into golf tennis and
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the world's most popular sport football
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through buying Newcastle United and
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luring stars like Cristiano Ronaldo to
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the Saudi pro league aside from the
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Olympics the men's World Cup is the
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biggest sporting event on the planet and
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hosting it is a huge feather in the cap
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for Any Nation what better way to show
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the new Saudi than by staging the
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tournament having already taken the
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World Cup to Qatar in
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2022 FIFA has shown itself to be
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receptive to Saudi over churs and all
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but assured it would be the winning bid
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with a series of decisions last year
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first it decided that the 2030 World Cup
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should bizarrely be played across six
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nations in three different continents
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Spain Portugal Morocco Uruguay Argentina
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and Paraguay that meant the 2034
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tournament had to be in Asia or Oceania
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Australia considered a rival bid but
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without having laid the groundwork that
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Saudi had by that point decided it
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wasn't ready leaving just one bidder
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Saudi Arabia the move has attracted
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criticism from from Norway's Football
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Federation who called FIFA's plan to
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hand Saudi Arabia the 2034 competition
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flawed they said FIFA's own guidelines
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for human rights and due diligence have
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also not been adequately integrated into
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the process increasing the risk of human
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rights violations then there is the
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winter issue traditionally the World Cup
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takes place in the northern hemisphere
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summer but that's made more difficult in
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the Middle East by Soaring temperatures
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that could risk the welfare of players
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and fans as in Qatar 2 years ago it
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seems inevitable that the 2034
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tournament will have to switch the
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winter but that's likely to prompt some
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push back from Top domestic leagues
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which would have to pause to accommodate
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the World Cup here at CM we'd like to
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know what do you think of the decision
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to host a 2034 World Cup in Saudi and do
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you think it should be held during the
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winter let us know in the comments and
