2034 World Cup: Australia withdraws as host, Saudi Arabia therefore the sole country in the running

"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," announced Football Australia, on 31/10/2023, the deadline set by FIFA for expressions of interest concerning the hosting of the 25^th World Cup.

"In line with the principle of confederation rotation and of securing the best possible hosting conditions for the tournaments, the bidding processes for both the 2030 and 2034 editions be conducted concurrently, with FIFA member associations from the territories of the AFC and the OFC invited to bid to host the FIFA World Cup 2034," announced the International Federation on 04/10/2023, after which it announced that the 2030 edition would involve three confederations, UEFA (via Spain and Portugal), CAF (via Morocco) and CONMEBOL (with three matches in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay to mark the centenary of the competition).

Saudi Arabia, which immediately made it known that it wanted to host the 2034 World Cup, 12 years after neighbouring Qatar, should…