Iran Press/ West Asia: Saudi Arabia is all but certain to host the men’s 2034 FIFA World Cup after the Australian Football Federation declined to enter the bidding contest.
FIFA had set Tuesday as the deadline to submit a bid to host the tournament, but Australia’s decision to pull out leaves Saudi Arabia as the only declared candidate.
Australia was the only other nation that had expressed an interest in hosting the competition and was still in the running. On Tuesday morning, Australia confirmed it would not be bidding to host the competition. Barring a last-minute entrant into the race, it means the Gulf nation will host the World Cup in 11 years’ time.
“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,” Football Australia (FA) said in a statement.
FIFA still needs to rubber stamp Saudi Arabia as the hosts – a decision that is likely to be made next year – but victory now seems a formality. 219
