Australia FA says it is still exploring bid for 2034 World Cup
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Australia has already announced its intention to bid for the 2034 tournament.
PHOTO: AFP
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SYDNEY – Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said on Thursday his organisation is still exploring a bid to host the 2034 World Cup, despite the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) having declared support for Saudi Arabia.
After naming Morocco, Spain and Portugal as 2030 World Cup hosts on Wednesday, with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay hosting the opening matches to mark the tournament's centenary, Fifa then invited Asian and Oceania countries to submit bids for 2034.
The Saudi Arabian Football Federation announced its bid minutes later, with AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa then welcoming the announcement, saying “the entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s momentous initiative”.
Australia, which switched to the AFC from Oceania in 2006, has already announced its intention to bid for the 2034 tournament and Johnson said nothing had changed.
“As stated previously, Football Australia is exploring the possibility of bidding for the 2029 Fifa Club World Cup and/or the Fifa World Cup 2034,” he said.
“We are encouraged that after the hugely successful Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 and Fifa Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023, the football family of Asia and Oceania will once again have the opportunity to showcase their ability to welcome the world and host the best Fifa tournaments.”
The deadline for prospective hosts to submit their confirmations of interest is Oct 31.
Australia has never hosted a men’s World Cup and was eliminated in the first round of voting for the 2022 event.
The country will face strong competition, however, as Saudi Arabia aims to add the prestigious World Cup to its slate of high-profile sporting events and become a major tourism hub.
The kingdom “intends to deliver a world-class tournament and will draw inspiration from Saudi Arabia’s ongoing social and economic transformation”, according to the state media.
Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it is investing trillions of dollars in new cities, tourism resorts and electric-vehicle manufacturing as it looks to diversify from oil. Sport is a big part of that push, with Saudi Arabia hosting events such as Formula One races, boxing bouts and the Dakar Rally in recent years.
It has also been pumping money into football. The country’s teams spent US$875 million (S$1.2 billion) from June to August to sign foreign stars such as Neymar and Karim Benzema.
A successful bid for 2034 would see the World Cup being held in the Persian Gulf for the second time, after Qatar played host last November and December. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
