Saudi Arabia only candidate to host 2034 World Cup, FIFA says

Saudi Arabia is the only football association that presented a bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup before the deadline closed, the  soccer’s global governing body said on Tuesday.

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 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 (FA) said in a statement.

FIFA has yet to officially approve Saudi Arabia as the host of the 2034 World Cup, and this is expected to happen next year.

WAM