Australia pull out of race to host FIFA World Cup 2034; Saudi Arabia favourites

Saudi Arabia among candidates to host the FIFA World Cup 2034

Saudi Arabia will host the FIFA World Cup 2034 as a result of Australia's decision not to submit a bid. Shortly prior to Fifa's deadline for statements of interest, on Tuesday, Football Australia released an announcement stating that it would not submit a bid.

FA reaffirmed its desire to host the Club World Cup in 2029 and the Women's Asian Cup in 2026.

Some of the most influential figures in football have warned Australia indirectly not to submit a bid for the men's World Cup in 2034 before the due date of Tuesday.

“We have explored the opportunity to bid to host the Fifa World Cup and – having taken all factors into consideration – we have reached the conclusion not to do so for the 2034 competition,” an FA statement read.

“For international tournament hosting, the Australian time zones provide significant opportunities for broadcasters, and we are within touching distance of billions of people in Asia and Oceania, which also helps to provide a strong commercial outlook for competitions,” FA said

Following Fifa's announcement earlier this month of the 2034 tournament process, an increasing number of foreign entities have thrown their support behind a Saudi Arabia candidature. Australia is a member of the Asian Confederation, which will host the tournament in eleven years.

Shortly following Fifa's release, Saudi Arabia published its statement of interest, and Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), soon after announced his backing for Saudi Arabia's bid.

Since then, a number of federations—including Indonesia, Australia's neighbour—have made public declarations of support. During the AFC's extraordinary convention, organisations from India, Uzbekistan, and Japan supported Saudi Arabia's proposal.