Bids

For the 2034 World Cup, Indonesia ranks behind Saudi Arabia

— Published on October 19, 2023

This time, mass is said. Barring an improbable scenario, Saudi Arabia will win the organization of the Football World Cup in 2034. The kingdom will bring the event back to the Gulf twelve years after a first edition last year in Qatar.

Reading the latest event, the file prepared by Riyad could even be alone in competition. FIFA would not have to choose. The attribution would already be decided.

The Indonesian Football Federation (PSSI) announced via a press release, published on Wednesday October 18, that it now supported the candidacy of Saudi Arabia. “ Indonesia supports Saudi Arabia's bid to host 2034 FIFA World Cup, details the document signed by Erick Thohir, the president of the body. Indonesia continues to prepare its bid to host the FIFA World Cup after 2034, as well as other FIFA competitions"

A week earlier, Indonesia had displayed a very different, even opposing, position. The day after the official announcement of the Saudi candidacy, Erick Thohir told the media that his country was also going to enter the race. He specified that he had started discussions with Australia a long time ago to prepare a joint project, to which Malaysia and Singapore could be added.

Important clarification: FIFA has set October 31, 2023 as the deadline for submitting a file. The body had previously defined the contours of the race for the 2034 World Cup, specifying that applications were only open to countries in the Asia and Oceania zones.

Saudi Arabia is on schedule. Indonesia could have been too, until its decision to postpone its World Cup project to another edition. With around ten days to go before the deadline, it would be surprising to see Australia come out of the woods and stand up as the sole opponent of the Saudi issue.

Coincidence or not, Erick Thohir was not present at the start of the week in Mumbai for the 141st session of the IOC, of ​​which he has been a member since 2019. The Indonesian billionaire, known in particular for having chaired Inter Milan between 2013 and 2018, counted in the list of twelve absentees displayed at the start of the session. Perhaps he was too busy negotiating with Saudi Arabia for participation in the 2034 World Cup file. According to several sources, Indonesia could in fact inherit a few matches in exchange for its withdrawal from the race.