In Saudi Arabia this week to work at the Club World Cup, seeing a woman driving a car on the busy roads of Jeddah was proving elusive. The kingdom’s ban on women drivers was lifted in 2018 — a key modernizing reform in a long-time ultraconservative society — yet first-hand evidence was missing for nearly four full days at a soccer event that was an early milestone on the road to the men’s World Cup in 2034. A ride was requested on Thursday evening on a Middle East booking app to pick up at the five-star hotel where FIFA stayed.
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Saudi Arabia is all but certain to host the men's 2034 World Cup after the Australian soccer federation declined to enter the bidding contest. FIFA had set a Tuesday deadline to submit a bid to host the tournament, but Australia's decision to pull out leaves Saudi Arabia as the only declared candidate. “We have explored the opportunity to bid to host the FIFA World Cup and having taken all factors into consideration we have reached the conclusion not to do so for the 2034 competition,” Footb
Saudi Arabia formally informed FIFA of its wish to host the men’s World Cup in 2034 on Monday in a bidding contest that increasingly looks designed for the kingdom to win. The Saudi Arabian soccer federation said it “submitted a letter of intent and signed declaration to FIFA to bid” in a vote that is open only to members of the Asian and Oceania soccer governing bodies. FIFA fast-tracked starting the 2034 contest last week after its ruling body also agreed to accept only one candidate for the 2030 World Cup — now an unprecedented six-nation, three-continent co-hosting plan in Europe, Africa and South America that removed those continents from bidding to get back-to-back tournaments.