{"id":66478,"date":"2023-10-05T00:25:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T00:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/05\/aussie-world-cup-bid-dealt-hammer-blow-as-600b-saudi-push-gets-massive-boost\/"},"modified":"2023-10-05T00:25:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T00:25:00","slug":"aussie-world-cup-bid-dealt-hammer-blow-as-600b-saudi-push-gets-massive-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/05\/aussie-world-cup-bid-dealt-hammer-blow-as-600b-saudi-push-gets-massive-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Aussie World Cup bid dealt hammer blow as $600b Saudi push gets massive boost"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Australian hopes of bidding for and hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup looked to be doomed the Asian Football Confederation threw all its support behind a bid from Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n

The success of the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup and on the back of the Matildas stirring run to the semi-finals, Football Australia had declared its intention to bid for more major tournaments.<\/p>\n

That included the 2034 men\u2019s World Cup but in a hammer blow the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has instead thrown it\u2019s full support behind a bid by Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Within hours of world governing body FIFA opening the door for bids from Asia and Oceania for the 2034 event,<\/a> the Saudis, who have more than $600 billion in their Public Investment Fund which is looking to lure major sporting events in all codes, confirmed their intention to pitch for the tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cHRH the Crown Prince: Saudi Arabia\u2018s desire to bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup is a reflection of the country\u2019s progress in all sectors,\u201d the Saudi Press Agency\u2019s English outlet said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kingdom has quickly emerged as a leading hub and an international destination for hosting major events thanks to its rich cultural heritage, economic strength and the ambition of its people.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/amp-img>
Lionel Messi and Argentina won the FIFA World Cup in Qatar (Photo by Julian Finney\/Getty Images)<\/span>Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In response the AFC, said it would \u201cstand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia\u2018s momentous initiative\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia\u2019s momentous initiative, and we are committed to working closely with the global football family to ensure its success,\u201d AFC president Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement on Thursday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The support of the AFC would be completely necessary for any Australian bid, even a joint one with other Oceanic countries after the women\u2019s World Cup was hosted by Australia and New Zealand. <\/p>\n

Football Australia chief executive officer James Johnson was contacted for his reaction to the news. <\/p>\n

There had been no commitment to bid for the World Cup but Johnson had said FA would \u201clook at\u201d the 2034 tournament with the Asian Cup another landmark event being considered. <\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia is already hosting the 2027 AFC Asian Cup and would become the third Asian host of the FIFA World Cup after Korea and Japan in 2002, and Qatar in 2022. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian hopes of bidding for and hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup looked to be doomed the Asian Football Confederation threw all its support behind a bid from Saudi Arabia. The success of the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup and on the back of the Matildas stirring run to the semi-finals, Football Australia had declared its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[151,1800,319,1641,32187,32185,32188,32182,4249,1567,1429,3147,32186,1425,32183,14215,5138,5035,2872,6170,32184,560,2895,2449,1891,493,4529,2874,4465,19923,5429,2457,2902,9868,1847,9037],"class_list":{"0":"post-66478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-africa","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-argentina","11":"tag-asia","12":"tag-asian-football-family","13":"tag-asian-host","14":"tag-australian-bid","15":"tag-australian-hopes","16":"tag-chief-executive-officer","17":"tag-eastern-asia","18":"tag-europe","19":"tag-fifa","20":"tag-football-family","21":"tag-getty-images-inc","22":"tag-global-football-family","23":"tag-hammer-blow","24":"tag-james-johnson","25":"tag-japan","26":"tag-julian-finney","27":"tag-massive-hit","28":"tag-momentous-initiative","29":"tag-morocco","30":"tag-newswire-sport","31":"tag-northern-africa","32":"tag-paul-kane","33":"tag-portugal","34":"tag-public-investment-fund","35":"tag-qatar","36":"tag-saudi-arabia","37":"tag-saudi-press-agency","38":"tag-south-america","39":"tag-southern-europe","40":"tag-spain","41":"tag-sporting-events","42":"tag-western-asia","43":"tag-world-governing-body"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}