Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia want to bid for the 2035 or 2039 Rugby World Cup, claiming it would be “the most successful event in the history of rugby”.
The Gulf states’ bid will be backed strongly by their continental representative body, Asia Rugby, which is determined to stage another men’s World Cup after the 2019 tournament in Japan.
Asia Rugby wants World Rugby — the game’s governing body — to “think outside the box” and ratify a multi-country bid for the World Cup on the continent. It believes that one could be staged in Japan and Korea, or Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, but their favoured location would be the Middle East.
However, none of the three prospective hosts for a Middle Eastern World Cup — Qatar, the UAE or Saudi Arabia — have ever participated at the tournament. Every World Cup host has played in the competition, so World Rugby would have to change their rules to allow those countries to feature, if they were not good enough to qualify.
“As our leaders in the Gulf believe, nothing is impossible,” the president of Asia Rugby, Qais Al Dhalai, said. “I foresee this as something that might happen in 2035.
“I don’t want to underestimate other bids, and I believe South Africa and other European countries might be interested as well, but if World Rugby worked hard on this with a solid plan it might happen in 2035.
“I’m in favour of a multi-city hosting model, not a single host. That’s proven to work in soccer. They have done it since 2002 when Japan and Korea hosted, and are doing it again in Mexico, USA and Canada in 2026, and then again with Spain, Morocco and Portugal in 2030. Why not rugby?
“A multi-host could be a successful story and a new model for rugby. UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia. Why not? The stadiums are ready there. It will be the most successful event in the history of rugby.”
Australia will host the next men’s World Cup in 2027, then will take the women’s tournament in 2029, with the United States following with men’s and women’s competitions in 2031 and 2033. The bidding process for the 2035 World Cup will start in the next two years. Italy and Spain are separately already lobbying hard to host.
If they were successful, the Gulf states would push for their World Cup to start in December, with a final in January, as it is far too hot when the tournament is usually staged, in September and October.
That would play havoc with the rugby calendar, particularly in the northern hemisphere, as the Six Nations would start barely a month after the World Cup final if it remained in its usual February-March slot. Domestic leagues would sacrifice the bumper revenues they gain with festive fixtures too.
Opting for a Middle Eastern World Cup would bring myriad issues to rugby. First, the region has been dogged by human rights issues and accusations that by splashing cash on sporting events they are “sportswashing”.
That has not stopped football, golf, boxing, mixed martial arts and other sports leaping at the chance to play in the Gulf. Qatar staged the 2022 Fifa World Cup, and Saudi Arabia will follow in 2034. The Saudi-backed LIV golf tour has ripped up golf, paying players hundreds of millions of pounds.
Rugby will soon follow suit. The 2028 edition of the Nations Cup finals — a new cross-hemisphere Test competition which will begin next year — is set to be played in Doha.
Qatar Airways are title sponsors of this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, and have funded South African Test matches against New Zealand and Wales at Twickenham. Emirates Airlines also sponsor World Rugby, with their logo on the shirts of referees. Elsewhere, Asia stages three legs of the world sevens series, in Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore.
Of the three potential Middle Eastern hosts, the UAE are the highest ranked, sitting 48th in the world, with Qatar down at 87. Saudi Arabia only played their first official Test, against Jordan, in 2016.
Yet top officials in Asian rugby are convinced all will rise quickly up the rankings by playing more Tests over the next decade. They also believe that Asia has the fanbase — and crucially — the financial might to convince traditionalists to back a bid.
A Middle Eastern World Cup could unlock vast sums, the likes of which rugby has never seen, if it is backed by sovereign wealth funds and big corporations in the Gulf.
“Our joker card is always the men’s XVs World Cup,” said Al Dhalai, who is from the UAE and is Asia Rugby’s council representative at World Rugby.
“This is where we generate 90 to 95 per cent of revenue for the sport. The economies of the Middle East are very strong. Look at golf, tennis, MMA fights coming to the Gulf, soccer teams like Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United and City go there in January.
“The big corporates and big money comes from the Gulf countries. In 2022 Qatar Airways started to sponsor the United Rugby Championship. Who would imagine they would put money into rugby? It’s happening.
“Emirates Airlines are the global partner of World Rugby and the referees, and sponsor the Dubai sevens. Cathay Pacific sponsors the Hong Kong sevens. The moral is, there is big money in the Gulf area — whether sovereign funds or corporates.
“Asia Rugby has two votes of the 52 in World Rugby’s council. Our two votes will definitely go to the Asian bid.”
Asia Rugby represents 36 countries, from Lebanon in the west to Guam in the east. Last year Al Dhalai was re-elected as president until 2028. His chief executive at Asia Rugby is Benjamin van Rooyen, a South African, who spelt out his vision for a Gulf World Cup.
He understands that traditional supporters would balk at the suggestion of watching matches in the Middle East, but believes it would be highly successful with sellout crowds.
“There are more All Blacks shirts in Malaysia and Sri Lanka than in New Zealand,” Van Rooyen said. “You would fill the stadium multiple times, that’s a fact.
“The appetite will be there. We’re underestimating the loyalty to the game from Asian rugby fans. It doesn’t have to be in the Gulf; you’d fill stadiums in Malaysia, Korea, Japan.
“Imagine if you had it in a place like the UAE, which has three good stadiums. Qatar and Saudi are investing heavily into sports development too. Stadiums are one or two hours’ flight away from each other, and four to six hours from lots of different countries, so that’s not too bad. It’s like spending three hours on a train in France.
“Qatar’s football World Cup showed it was the most successful at being a family-friendly event. There were no cases of hooliganism, so I think if it can be packaged as being family and community focused, it could bring another dimension.
“In the end, it will be a television product. The Qatar Airways Cup was a brand-new product; they got 80,000 at Twickenham, but it’s about the TV viewers you get too. It can work.”
