Key Points
- Football Australia will not bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
- Saudi Arabia is tipped to host the tournament, with the support of the Asian Football Confederation.
- Australia will try to secure hosting rights for cups closer to home, building on the Matildas' momentum.
Football Australia won't bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, clearing the way for Saudi Arabia to host the tournament.
Australia was considering bidding for the event after co-hosting this year's with New Zealand, a tournament that reached over two billion viewers worldwide.
However, hopes were dashed when Saudi Arabia was backed by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
"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 said in a statement on Tuesday.
FIFA confirmed on Tuesday Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder to host the 2034 tournament.
Football Australia sets sights on women's tournaments
Football Australia instead reiterated its interest in hosting the Women's Asian Cup in 2026 and the 2029 Club World Cup, capitalising on this year's .
"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," FA said, referencing a tournament Saudi Arabia has also bid on.
"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."
FA said that would be "underpinned by the opportunity for our men's and women's teams to compete at major tournaments" - both World Cups, Asian Cups, Olympics and under-20 World Cups.
How did Saudi Arabia become the front-runner to host in 2034?
FIFA president Gianni Infantino opened up the bids for the 2034 tournament on 5 October, giving countries from Asia and Oceania 25 days to prepare their pitch.
Within minutes, the president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation Yasser Al Misehal said the "time was right" for the country to host.
Australia was hopeful when Indonesia's football association flagged interest in a joint bid, before opting to back Saudi Arabia.
In the weeks since, a growing bloc of over 100 FIFA member associations, including Japan, Uzbekistan and India, has expressed its support for Saudi Arabia's bid.
While the Japan Football Association aims to host the World Cup by 2050, executive Tsuneyasu Miyamoto said Asia needed to "get united and make a single bid".
Australia spent $46 million on a bid for the 2022 Men's World Cup, but only got one vote of support.
Only Asia or Oceania could bid for 2034 after FIFA accepted only one candidate for the 2030 tournament: a six-country bid spread across three confederations: Europe, Africa and South America.
The Spain-Portugal bid grew to add Morocco this year and now plans to have one game played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
