Saudi Arabia is set to host the men’s 2034 World Cup after Fifa confirmed it was the only bidder for the tournament.
Australia decided against bidding to stage the tournament hours before Fifa’s deadline for declarations of interest on Tuesday.
Morocco, Portugal and Spain are the only bidders for the 2030 edition, with games also played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
A Fifa congress will confirm the hosts in late 2024.
The 2026 World Cup will take place in the US, Mexico and Canada.
“Three editions, five continents and 10 countries involved in staging matches in the tournament – that’s making football truly global,” Fifa president Gianni Infantino wrote on Instagram.
“As we live in an increasingly divided and aggressive world, we show once again that football, the leading global sport, unites like nothing else.”
Australia’s governing body Football Australia says it intends to focus its efforts on hosting the Women’s Asian Cup in 2026 and the Club World Cup in 2029.
Football’s world governing body Fifa had said the 2034 World Cup would be held in Asia or Oceania, and an Australian bid was regarded as the only potential challenger to Saudi Arabia, which announced its intention to bid shortly after Fifa’s decision.
After Tuesday’s deadline passed, football’s world governing body confirmed the bids for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups and said there will now be “thorough bidding and evaluation processes” for the tournaments.
Fifa said it 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.”
Saudi Arabian Football Federation president Yasser Al Misehal said: “Driven by a huge passion for the game by our young nation, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation is fully committed to meeting and exceeding the bid’s requirements.”
He also said hosting tournament would be offer an “open invitation to the world to experience our rich football culture”.
Despite receiving support from the Asian Football Confederation, Saudi Arabia would likely be viewed as a controversial host.
It has been criticised for its human rights violations – 81 men were executed on one day last year – women’s rights abuses, the criminalisation of homosexuality, the restriction of free speech and the war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s international standing was severely damaged by the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based Saudi journalist who was a prominent critic of the government.
Human rights campaigners say sport is being used by the Saudi government to detract from long-standing reputation issues, a process known as ‘sportswashing’.
Last week Human Rights Watch said: “The possibility that Fifa could award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup despite its appalling human rights record and closed door to any monitoring exposes Fifa’s commitments to human rights as a sham.”
On Tuesday Amnesty International called on Fifa to secure “clear and binding commitments” from Saudi Arabia.
It said: “Human rights commitments must be agreed with potential hosts before final decisions on holding the tournaments are made.
“The best chance for Fifa to obtain binding guarantees to protect workers’ rights, ensure freedom of expression and prevent discrimination linked to the World Cup is during the host selection process – not after the hosts have been confirmed and tournament preparation has begun.”
Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup drew criticism because of its stance on same-sex relationships, its human rights record and its treatment of migrant workers.
Fifa dropped plans for Saudi Arabia to sponsor the 2023 Women’s World Cup following a backlash from co-hosts Australia and New Zealand, players and sponsors, but Saudi Arabia is keen to host the 2035 tournament after forming a women’s team last year.
Like the 2022 men’s tournament, the 2034 edition would almost certainly be held in winter because of extreme heat in the summer, although modernising existing infrastructure rather than building new stadiums would likely make it more environmentally friendly than Qatar.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) completed a takeover of Newcastle United in 2021, and manager Eddie Howe said: “Our trips out there to Riyadh and Jeddah were two very different experiences.
“Everywhere we went was well organised; we were well looked after. If that’s a sign of what a World Cup might look like, structurally it will be really good.”
Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said bidding for the World Cup was “not going to be favourable to Australia”.
He said: “Saudi is a strong bid. They have a lot of resources, and not just [for] the 2034 World Cup.
“They are disrupting European football paying higher dollars. This is a disruption in the market and that is what positions Saudi in a strong way. From the government, top down they are prioritising investment in football. That is difficult to compete with.”
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