Saudi Arabia World Cup 2034 looks set to be held in the January – Report | OneFootball

An interesting update on the Saudi Arabia World Cup 2034.

Things already beyond belief, when somehow Saudi Arabia ended up as the only one wanting to host in 2034. How did that happen??

Russia somehow getting the 2018 World Cup, then even more unreal, Qatar getting it in 2022 AND allowed to move it to November/December.

Now we have The Times reporting that after an uncontested process, no other countries competing with them, the Saudi Arabia World Cup 2034 looks set to be held in the January!

Amongst the reasons contributing to this are Ramadan in November and December, the heat in Summer, Winter Olympics, the Hajj pilgrimage…

The Times report – 2 December 2024:

‘The 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia may have to be held at the start of that year to avoid extreme summer temperatures and the Ramadan religious period as Fifa faces a headache around the scheduling of the tournament.

Fifa has declined to comment on the timing of the event, which will be officially awarded to Saudi Arabia next week, but as with the 2022 World Cup in neighbouring Qatar it is not seen as feasible to stage it in the summer.

Fifa’s evaluation report of the Saudi bid released at the weekend stated that “climatic conditions” and “religious events” including Ramadan and Christmas should be considerations around the scheduling of the tournament. Ramadan runs from November 11 to December 10 in 2034, which would not allow the same timing used for the World Cup in Qatar.

An alternative would be for it to be held from the start of January 2034, with the 38-day tournament finishing just before the start of that year’s winter Olympics in Salt Lake City scheduled from February 10 to 26. That would inevitably have a knock-on effect on the festive fixtures usually arranged in English football as there would need to be at least a week’s preparation for squads.