2034 World Cup: Check out host countries, dates and news for the centenary of the World Cup

World cup from 2034 has already been confirmed for Saudi Arabia and returns to the Middle East after 12 years. Just like in Qatar, the World Cup promises a lot of technology and even a city built from scratch to host the games.

In an agreement that involved defining the 2030 venues, Saudi Arabia was the only candidate to host the 2034 World Cup. Since the announcement, the country has been investing heavily in the development of football and has Cristiano Ronaldo as one of its main stars. Neymar played for Al-Hilal, but suffered from injuries and left the country in 2025 to return to Santos.

Saudi Arabia’s proposal is for the matches to take place in 15 stadiums in five cities (Neom, Jeddah, Abha, Riyadh and Al Khobar). The curiosity is that Neom does not yet exist and has a futuristic project costing 1 trillion dollars (just over R$5 trillion at the current price).

The opening and final will be at the King Salman stadium, in the capital Riyadh, which will only be ready in 2029. The plan is for the capacity to be 92,760 people and the home of the Saudi national team.

“In today’s divided world, where it seems like no one can agree on anything anymore, being able to agree on something like this is definitely an incredible message of unity and positivity,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the time of Saudi Arabia’s announcement.

The 2034 World Cup calendar

FIFA has not yet announced the period for the World Cup in Saudi Arabia, but the newspaper The New York Times reported, at the end of 2025, that it may only be at the beginning of 2035. The entity has already ruled out games in the middle of the year, just as it was in Qatar, in 2022, due to the strong heat.

The World Cup in Qatar took place between November and December, but in 2034, Ramadan, a sacred period for the Islamic region, will be in the last two months of the year. Therefore, the possibility of FIFA postponing it to the beginning of 2035.

“If you want to play everywhere at the same time, then you can play in March or October, because in December we don’t play in one part of the world, and in July, we don’t play in another part of the world,” said the FIFA president.

“Even playing in some European countries in July is very, very hot. So maybe we need to think about the best months to play football, which is June, in Europe. That month is not used much, right? Maybe there are ways to optimize the calendar, but we are discussing it. We just need to keep an open mind,” Infantino added.