Newcastle United chief appointed to board as green light given for $5trillion investment

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Newcastle United chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan will play a major role in helping Saudi Arabia deliver the 2034 FIFA World Cup.

Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup after a vote at an Extraordinary FIFA Congress meeting on Wednesday. Spain, Morocco, Portugal were also confirmed as joint hosts for the 2030 World Cup with three matches to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to mark 100 years since the first ever World Cup.

A FIFA evaluation report into Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup scored it a 4.25 - the highest score ever awarded to a potential host for the World Cup. Both bids for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups went unchallenged.

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A statement released by the English FA following the vote read: "Our focus is on ensuring that all our fans can attend and enjoy tournaments.

"The FA board met the Saudi Arabian Football Federation last month to discuss their bid in more detail.

"We asked them to commit to ensuring all fans would be safe and welcome in Saudi Arabia in 2034 - including LGBTQ+ fans. They assured us that they are fully committed to providing a safe and welcome environment for all fans."

With Saudi Arabia now having ten years to prepare for their World Cup, one that will be hosted during the winter, much like the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the country is already making moves to ensure they are able to host the competition. One move that has already been made is to set up a Supreme Commission, with Al-Rumayyan named as part of that group.

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The World Cup is set to cost Saudi Arabia a reported $5trillion with a fair chunk of that money set to be spent on stadiums in the country. Of the 15 stadiums included in Saudi’s bid, eight have yet to be built with another three currently under construction. 48 teams will compete in the 2030 World Cup, 16 more than the 32 nations that took part in the previous competition two years ago.

Al-Rumayyan is also Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and has been chairman of Newcastle United since the takeover of the club in October 2021.

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