Indonesia backs Saudi Arabia’s bid to host football’s 2034 World Cup

JAKARTA – Indonesia’s football federation (PSSI) said on Wednesday it is backing Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup, a week after its president Erick Thohir said it was in talks with Australia about a possible joint bid for the event.

“Indonesia supports Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the Fifa World Cup in 2034,” he said in a statement. “Indonesia continues to prepare for its bid to host the Fifa World Cup after 2034, as well as other Fifa competitions.”

Last week, Thohir, a Cabinet minister and former Inter Milan owner, was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald: “We are discussing (a bid) with Australia. When I visited Malaysia and Singapore, both countries expressed interest to join Indonesia and Australia.”

When asked for comment on a possible joint bid last week, Football Australia referred back to a statement earlier in October that said it was “exploring the possibility of bidding for the 2029 Fifa Club World Cup and/or the Fifa World Cup 2034”.

It did not mention a joint bid with Indonesia then, although Australian football officials had said in June they were investigating such a possibility.

That was not the first time that there was talk of the 2034 World Cup being co-hosted in South-east Asia.

In 2019, 10 Asean nations, including Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, had agreed to establish a technical working group, led by Thailand, to look into the feasibility of a joint bid to host the 2034 showpiece.

Earlier in October, Fifa invited bids from Asia and Oceania for the 2034 tournament, setting a deadline of Oct 31, after naming Morocco, Spain and Portugal as 2030 World Cup hosts, with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay hosting the opening matches to mark the tournament’s centenary.

The Asian Football Confederation then backed the Saudi bid, with its president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa saying: “The entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s momentous initiative, and we are committed to working closely with the global football family to ensure its success.”

Over 100 Fifa member associations have since also pledged their support, said the Saudi Arabia Football Federation in a media statement on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia has in recent years made massive investments in sports including golf, Formula One, boxing and football.

Teams in the Saudi Pro League spent nearly US$1 billion (S$1.37 billion) luring top footballers from Europe during the recent transfer window which closed on Sept 7. It will also be hosting two major football tournaments – the Club World Cup in December and the 2027 Asian Cup, which follows the next edition in Qatar in early 2024.

Indonesia, meanwhile, is hosting the Fifa Under-17 World Cup from Nov 10 to Dec 2. In March, it was stripped of the hosting rights for the U-20 World Cup in May-June after protests in the Muslim-majority nation over Israel’s participation.

That came after a stampede on Oct 1, 2022 caused more than 100 deaths during a football match at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in Malang, East Java. REUTERS