Saudi Arabia gets clear run-in to be hosts for World Cup 2034 as Australia drops out

A mere 12 years after Qatar hosted the FIFA World Cup, the stage seems to have been set by FIFA itself to ensure that Saudi Arabia also gets to stage a World Cup.

The process started when FIFA announced the 2030 World Cup hosts. By hosting the first three games in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay and then shifting the tournament to Spain, Portugal and Morocco, FIFA essentially ‘gave’ the hosting rights of the World Cup to South America, Europe and Africa in one event itself, and restricting the potential hosts for the 2034 edition to Asia or an Oceania-region country.

Not only did FIFA announce a six-country, three-continent World Cup for 2030, they then set an extremely tight one-month deadline of October 31 for countries to register interest in hosting the next World Cup.