While the news was hardly a surprise, with Saudi Arabia emerging as the sole candidate last year, officials took advantage of the formal announcement to stage celebrations hailing their bid's success.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International immediately condemned FIFA's decision, saying it "marks a moment of great danger" and voicing concern about risks to construction workers.
Such external criticism has dogged Saudi Arabia during its push to rebrand as a sports powerhouse by staging high-profile tennis tournaments, Formula One races and boxing matches on Saudi soil.
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Denne historien er fra December 14, 2024-utgaven av The Citizen.
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Nabi calls for fearless game
Kaizer Chiefs coach Nasreddine Nabi (above) is confident that Amakhosi can build from this past weekend's victory over Chippa United.
This sports-mad country has a lot to be proud of
Goodbye 2024! What a year it was. Bafana Bafana, the Springboks and the Proteas men's and women's cricket teams all brought joy and happiness to our country.
Injuries 'pile pressure' on Sharks
Sharks head coach John Plumtree is frustrated with a string of injuries that left his team without experienced players by the end of their 24-20 loss to the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship (URC) game at Cape Town Stadium at the weekend.
Bucs not yet up to scratch
Jose Riveiro has admitted that Orlando Pirates were not at their best during their game against Magesi FC, but the Spanish coach was delighted with the scrappy win.
Sacha takes yet another knock
DOBSON: WORRIED ABOUT UTILITY BACK'S CONFIDENCE
Rohit 'disturbed' by his batting form
India captain Rohit Sharma (right) admitted yesterday his batting form is \"disturbing\" after a double failure in the 184-run fourth Test loss to Australia in Melbourne.
Call for more red ball games
South Africa's win against Pakistan in the first Test of two in Centurion on Sunday secured their place in the World Test Championship final at Lord's next June, but the challenge in the coming months will be to find time and opponents to prepare properly for that big match.
Aussie skipper's 'greatest' Test
CUMMINS: 'RIGHT AT THE TOP' OF GAMES HE HAS PLAYED
Celtic Seem Unstoppable
Celtic opened up a 14-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership over Rangers with a 4-0 thrashing of St Johnstone, while their Glasgow rivals were held 2-2 at Motherwell on Sunday.
'Relief' is Pep's overriding emotion
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola (right) said relief was his overriding emotion after a 2-0 victory at Leicester secured just a second win in 14 games for the crisis-hit English champions on Sunday.
