Saudi Arabian sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal has confirmed the country would be interested in hosting the 2035 Rugby World Cup.
Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, are reportedly set to bid for the 2035 tournament.
Al-Faisal told reporters at the Saudi Arabian Formula 1 Grand Prix that the country is open to hosting the tournament and wants to develop the sport at a domestic level.
“We’re interested in rugby; we’re interested in developing the sport locally. So, we created the federation and so on to see what we can do to develop the sport,” he told reporters.
“I don’t think we’re on the level of hosting yet, but the ’35 World Cup is in 10 years, so maybe it grows in that direction, and we see a big interest in that, then why not?”
While Saudi Arabia has taken a strong interest in a range of sports including football, boxing and Formula 1, Al-Faisal said there are no firm plans to invest heavily in rugby on a global scale.
“I think our main intention is to develop sports within the kingdom,” he said.
“And then today we have roughly 97 federations. We’re not going to host everything with 97 federations, but why do we have 97 Federation is because we want to promote sports.
“Even the smallest sports that maybe a small number of people participate in Saudi or there isn’t that big of an interest.
“At least someone can play that sport in the kingdom, and that’s the idea of developing. I’m sure some will grow into bigger areas and develop into bigger participation and so on.”
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