Munich, Germany – Former Germany captain Philipp Lahm has criticised the awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia.
“It’s important that major events take place in democratic countries,” the 2014 World Cup champion told broadcasters BR in an interview.
Saudi Arabia is in its region “the country with the highest population density, with 36 million inhabitants. They are interested in football. Under different political conditions, I would have awarded it this World Cup,” he said.
We are also “used to democratic decision-making in club sport and that is not the case in Saudi Arabia.”
Saudi Arabia were the only bidders to host the 2034 World Cup and were awarded the tournament in a vote during an extraordinary virtual FIFA congress last week.
Lahm criticised the procedure, which also included the awarding of the 2030 World Cup to Morocco, Portugal and Spain.
“The way it was awarded, with two World Cups being awarded at the same time in one vote, you couldn’t vote for the 2030 World Cup and the 2034 World Cup, you had to say yes or no to both. Something can’t be right,” he said.
Saudi Arabia is widely criticised by human rights groups for violations in various areas. These groups also accuse the country of using sports events to improve its image, a method they call sports-washing.
(dpa)