Saudi Arabia set to host 2034 FIFA World Cup after Australia withdraws

Saudi Arabia has all but sealed the hosting rights for the 2034 FIFA World Cup after Australia pulled out of the race hours before the FIFA deadline today.

The Middle East giants threw their hat in the ring soon after the world football governing body announced that the 2034 edition can only be held in Asia or Oceania.

The Gulf nation soon gathered plenty of support, including the backing of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, as Australia emerged as the only challenger.

But the co-hosts of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup decided against it and instead will concentrate on the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the 2029 Club World Cup.

“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,” a statement from Football Australia read.

“Instead, we believe we are in a strong position to host the oldest women’s international competition in the world, the AFC Women’s Asian Cup™ 2026, and then welcome the greatest teams in world football for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.

“Achieving this – following the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023™ and with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games – would represent a truly golden decade for Australian football.

“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.”

Australia had hopes previously when Indonesia announced its intention of a joint bid only to do a U-tun a week later and back the Saudis.

If Saudi Arabia win, it will be the second Gulf country to host the World Cup in a span of 12 years after fierce rivals Qatar staged the event last year.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his regime has been criticised by the international community for sportswashing to cover up for the accusations of human rights violations.

Homosexuality is a crime in the country, while the nation has been under fire for its record on women’s rights, free speech, and its role in war in Yemen since 2015.

Bin Salman was also allegedly behind the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, who was was killed by agents of the Riyadh Government at its consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The 38-year-old has vowed that Saudi Arabia will continue to sportswash if it helps to increase the nation’s gross domestic product.

Infantino was recently pictured along with bin Salman during the launch of mega prize money annual Esports World Cup, an industry that the country has invested heavily in.
Jeddah has already been chosen to host this year’s men’s FIFA Club World Cup, and a bid from the country for the 2035 FIFA Women’s World Cup has been mooted.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada – the first hosted by three countries.

Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will almost certainly host the centennial FIFA World Cup in 2030, requiring just the formalities of a successful bidding process and ratification by next year’s FIFA Congress.

Plans for special one-off matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay are also in place.