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- With 50 days to go before FIFA confirms hosting decision, current Saudi assistant manager feels ‘very enthusiastic and positive’ about the Kingdom’s bid
RIYADH: Manchester City and FC Barcelona legend and current assistant manager of the Saudi national team Yaya Toure believes football fans from around the world will be blown away by the stadiums included in Saudi Arabia’s FIFA World Cup 2034 bid.
And the former Ivorian international even admitted he hopes the atmosphere across the grounds will rival that of Anfield, which in his book is home to the best atmosphere in world football.
Speaking following his tour of the dedicated Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup 2034 bid exhibition in Riyadh, the UEFA Champions League and African Cup of Nations winner spoke of his admiration for Saudi Arabia’s grand plans to host the biggest event in world sport.
As he toured the exhibition floor — home to scale models of some of the 15 stadiums proposed to host the FIFA World Cup in 10 years’ time, plus a wider exploration of the bid’s five proposed host cities (Riyadh, Jeddah, Alkhobar, Abha and NEOM) — the three-time Premier League champion admitted that he had been initially surprised by the depth of football passion that exists across Saudi Arabia, having now spent a year living in the Kingdom since taking on his role at the national team.
And having examined in detail the plans on display at the exhibition, Toure now firmly believes the prospect of Saudi Arabia hosting the first 48-team FIFA World Cup held in a single nation would attract football fans from around the world due to the “incredible” nature of its stadium plans, especially.
Toure said: “I feel very enthusiastic and positive about the Saudi bid.
“You can sometimes see stadiums that are simple, modern, and artificial. But these stadiums here, the design, the location and how they are going to be built with links to the origins of each city and mean specific things to the country — that is incredible.”
Among the proposed stadiums for the Saudi 2034 bid are the brand new 92,000-seater King Salman International Stadium in the capital city of Riyadh, set to be home to the national team and the tournament’s opening and final fixtures. There are also plans to refurbish four existing stadiums across Riyadh, Jeddah and Abha.
“Saudi Arabia is a special country,” Toure said. “People are very positive and very welcoming, and I think people from around the world who come to experience a World Cup in Saudi Arabia will come and say: ‘Wow.’ Football is not just about Europe or South America. It is about the rest of the world. People are mad about football and the world has to know that.”
In his role in helping develop Saudi Arabia’s leading football talent, Toure has witnessed first-hand the investment that has gone into the game in Saudi Arabia in recent years, as the country continues on its trajectory as one of the fastest and most exciting growth stories in world football.
In the last three years, the number of youth regional training centers across the country climbed from nine to 23; more than 200,000 boys and girls now play in the schools league; there are 64 annual youth competitions across; and registered football coaches have jumped from 700 in 2019 to over 4,000. Saudi Arabia has also hosted more than 100 international sporting events since 2018 as its young population — 63 percent of whom are aged 30 or younger — embraces a sporting transformation under the guiding ambitions of Saudi Vision 2030.
Toure, who is hoping to help co-guide Saudi Arabia to its seventh FIFA World Cup in 2026, praised the Saudi approach as one that many other countries should be looking to mirror.
“I’ve been surprised by youth football here,” he said. “The way the education and development has been taken seriously, that’s the main point. For me, it’s not only about the adults, the first teams, the elite; it’s about the young ones, the future. What’s being done here is very important as they are thinking about the future and that’s the kids. That is brilliant and is something that I want to be a part of.
“I’m from Africa and we want to reach a certain level. Here, they are bringing everything together, the players, the coaches, and trying to interact with superpower countries who are well-developed in sport to bring ideas back here to progress things at a huge speed. It is very encouraging.”
Toure represented the Ivory Coast in the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa, as The Elephants came up against Brazil, Portugal and North Korea, scoring the opening goal in their final group match against North Korea.
And while that tournament was loved for many of the incredible stadiums it brought to the game, it is former club FC Barcelona’s Camp Nou that holds the best memories for Toure — where he won no fewer than seven trophies in just two years.
However, the 41-year-old admits the best atmosphere in football lies elsewhere: at Anfield, home of Liverpool FC.
Asked about the best stadium atmosphere he ever played in during his 18-year career, Toure said: “Liverpool. The stadium atmosphere is incredible. If you’re there, you cannot hear anything, you can’t listen to anything when you play in there.”
The official Saudi Arabia FIFA World Cup™ 2034 bid — founded on the slogan “Growing. Together.” — was submitted to FIFA at the end of July. The deciding vote on who will host the 2034 tournament will be made at the FIFA Congress on Dec. 11 of this year.