MELBOURNE – Saudi Arabia was left as a shoo-in to host the 2034 World Cup after Australia confirmed it would not make a bid for football’s global showpiece on Tuesday’s deadline day.
Football Australia boss James Johnson had said the country was “exploring the possibility” of 2034 but, on Tuesday, the governing body said it would instead focus on bids for the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and the 2029 Club World Cup.
Johnson expressed dismay at having such a tight turnaround to explore hosting in 2034 with global football’s governing body Fifa calling for bids from Asia and Oceania on Oct 4.
“It was a little bit of a surprise that it was going to be an earlier process. When I went through that process, I realised we could have a shot but I think the outcome was not going to be favourable to Australia,” he said via a video conference call from Doha.
“Saudi is a strong bid, they’ve got a lot of resources, not just relating to the 2034 men’s World Cup, but they’re disrupting European club football at the moment... their government, top down, are prioritising the investment in football and that’s difficult to compete with.”
Australia’s decision to not proceed with 2034 leaves Saudi Arabia as the only confirmed bidder.
Saudi Arabia announced it would bid only minutes after football’s global governing body called for Asia and Oceania bids on Oct 4.
The president of the Asian Football Confederation, Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, the sport’s continental governing body to which Australia belongs, said “the entire Asian football family” would stand united in support of the Saudi bid.
This could see the World Cup return to the Gulf region for the second time, after Qatar played host in 2022. While the 2022 tournament was held during Qatar’s winter, Saudi Arabia’s plans are uncertain.
The country’s cooler hill-top cities may offer flexibility, although major cities Riyadh and Jeddah regularly experience temperatures of 40 deg C in July and August.
Unlike Qatar, which had to start planning and building stadiums from scratch, Saudi Arabia already has plans in place to build several new stadiums as it was selected to host the Asian Cup in 2027.
The country will need to have at least 14 stadiums with a capacity exceeding 40,000 seats. So far it only has two matching this criteria.
On Tuesday, Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe said he would expect a World Cup in Saudi Arabia to be well organised.
Newcastle, majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), have first-hand experience, having travelled there for training camps.
“Our trips out there to Riyadh and Jeddah were two different experiences, really,” Howe told a press conference before Newcastle’s League Cup tie against Manchester United on Wednesday.
“Everywhere we went was well organised, we were well looked after. If that’s a sign of what a World Cup might look like, structurally it will be really good.”
A week after Fifa’s invitation, Indonesia said it was in discussions with Australia about a possible joint-bid with Malaysia and Singapore – before saying a week later that it backed Saudi Arabia’s bid.
Australia hosted the Women’s World Cup earlier in 2023, but has never hosted a men’s World Cup.
“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,” Football Australia said.
Fifa awarded the 2030 World Cup to Morocco, Portugal and Spain, while also adding World Cup centenary games in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
