Saudi Arabia confirmed as sole bidders of 2034 FIFA World Cup after Australia announce withdrawal

Saudi Arabia have been confirmed by FIFA as the only bidders for the 2034 World Cup.

Australia had previously been in the running to host the tournament, but decided to pull out just hours before the declarations of interest deadline.

The destination of the 2030 World Cup has also been confirmed, with Morocco, Spain and Portugal set to be the primary hosts of the event.

The decision will be ratified next year, after the governing body stated: "This first step will be followed by thorough bidding processes for both FIFA World Cup™ editions, with the hosts to be appointed by the member associations gathered at FIFA Congresses."

FIFA had made it clear that they intended to take the tournament to either Asia or Oceania in 11 years time, and Australia were the only serious challenger to Saudi Arabia's bid.

However, they withdrew from the process to focus their efforts on holding the 2026 Women's Asian Cup and the 2029 Club World Cup.

Meanwhile, FIFA has also confirmed three games for the 2030 edition will take place in South America to mark the 100th anniversary of the tournament.

Uruguay, the original hosts and inaugural winners back in 1930, Argentina and Paraguay will each stage one game.

FIFA went on to say: "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.

"In accordance with these regulations, the FIFA administration will conduct a targeted dialogue with bidders, to ensure complete, comprehensive bids are received and evaluated against the minimum hosting requirements as also previously approved by the FIFA Council.

"This dialogue will focus on the defined priority areas of the event vision and key metrics, infrastructure, services, commercial, and sustainability and human rights.

"Following this, FIFA will publish its evaluation reports and, should those requirements be met, the member associations gathered at the FIFA Congress will appoint the hosts of the respective competitions. All relevant documents, including the bid books and the bid evaluation reports, will be published on FIFA.com."

The tournament being held in the Middle East is likely to mean the European football calendar faces upheaval once again, as the competition will follow in the footsteps of Qatar 2022 by being staged as a winter event.

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