Saudi Arabia Prepares Young Talent for 2034 World Cup

As host nation for the FIFA World Cup 2034, Saudi Arabia has made youth football development a central pillar of its preparations, with a decade-long plan to build the players who could one day represent the Kingdom on home soil.

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF), working alongside the Ministry of Sport, has launched and expanded its Future Falcons scholarship program, which sends selected teenagers to train in Salou, Spain. There, players combine professional football development with formal schooling across multiple seasons. Since its launch, around 230 Saudi teenagers have received or completed individual scholarships.

Originally focused on players aged 18 to 20, the program has widened to include under-16 national-team players, who are set to receive professional training for two consecutive seasons in Salou starting in the mid-2020s. A dedicated initiative has seconded 27 under-16 national-team players to live and train in Spain for two seasons, with the aim of preparing them for professional careers abroad and eventual national-team roles ahead of 2034.

A long-term pipeline

SAFF has outlined a roadmap of nine youth-development projects across national-team management and technical departments to build competitive age-category national sides over the coming decade. Youth competitions now span under-17 and under-11 categories, with plans for organized competitions for players under six years old by 2027.

The federation is also targeting 25 regional training centers across the Kingdom to standardize talent identification, alongside a goal that a large share of the senior squad be club-based in Europe by 2034. These programs are administered directly by SAFF and the Ministry of Sport and are not accessed through government service platforms.

For families across the Kingdom, the effort signals a growing structured pathway for young athletes, offering local talent a clearer route toward professional football as the country counts down to hosting one of the world's biggest sporting events.

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