And they are going with an ambitious proposal, "the biggest edition in history" of the tournament in one country, as reflected in the list of venues, cities and infrastructures included in the bid book, whose details are published by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

Saudi Arabia will host the 48-team tournament in fifteen stadiums in five cities, as known after the kingdom submitted its official bid to the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

Among the cities proposed to host the tournament are the capital Riyadh, the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha and NEOM, a futuristic new city budgeted at $500 billion

In addition, there will be 15 state-of-the-art stadiums, eleven of them new, according to the agency. It's all in a big way, as it should be in a country with 32 million inhabitants:

Riyadh alone will have eight stadiums, including a new one, the King Salman Stadium, which can hold more than 92,000 spectators and will host the opening and final matches of the tournament, according to SPA.

To host the 48-team World Cup, the kingdom needs 14 stadiums with a capacity of 40,000, according to the bid document.
It currently has two: the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah and the venerable King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, which is undergoing a major refurbishment, so it will need to erect another 12.

Countries such as Saudi Arabia are banking on global, high-impact sporting events as a way of presenting a more modern image and attracting new investment. Saudi Arabia has already planned the 2027 Asian Cup and even the 2029 Asian Winter Games despite being a desert country, as environmental groups have criticised.

In 2034, the same year as the World Cup, Riyadh will host the Asian Games, a two-week tournament with more events than the Summer Olympics and a similar number of athletes while its gas-rich neighbour, Qatar, recently hosted the first World Cup in the Middle East at an exorbitant cost of $220 billion.