Saudi Arabia was the only football association to present a bid to host the 2034 FIfa World Cup before the deadline closed, football’s global governing body said on Tuesday.

Fifa had invited bids from Asia and Oceania for the tournament by October 31, and Saudi Arabia announced it would bid only minutes after the announcement on October 4.

Australia said on Tuesday it would not be presenting a bid to host the tournament, leaving Saudi Arabia as the only candidate.

“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.

Australia would have found it difficult to compete with Saudi Arabia’s bid, FA chief executive James Johnson said.

“Saudi is a strong bid, they’ve got a lot of resources... their government top down, are prioritising the investment in football and that’s difficult to compete with.”

“As established in the bidding regulations approved by the Fifa Council, the Fifa administration will conduct thorough bidding and evaluation processes for the 2030 and 2034 editions of the Fifa World Cup, with the hosts to be appointed by Fifa Congresses expected to take place by Q4 2024,” Fifa said.

Fifa also confirmed that the sole confirmation of interest in hosting the 2030 World Cup came from Morocco, Portugal and Spain with Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay hosting celebratory games.

On October 4, Fifa announced that the combined bid of Morocco Spain and Portugal would host the 2030 World Cup.

Reuters, AP/PTI