{"id":336574,"date":"2023-10-05T20:56:13","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T20:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336574"},"modified":"2023-10-05T22:01:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-05T22:01:30","slug":"legends-fifa-spray-as-world-cup-slips-from-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=336574","title":{"rendered":"Legend's FIFA spray as World Cup slips from Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia's ascent to likely 2034 World Cup<\/a> hosts means Australia's next chance at hosting the men's tournament will come in 2046, says former Socceroo Craig Foster.<\/p>\n

\ufeffA key decision that fell Saudi Arabia\u2019s way came on Wednesday when FIFA united Europe, Africa and South America around a sole bid for 2030<\/a> in an unprecedented co-hosting team of Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Argentina, Paraguay and inaugural 1930 World Cup host Uruguay.<\/p>\n

Those continents are now removed from the 2034 picture, even though the three South American countries accepted just one game each. That also let FIFA president Gianni Infantino deliver another surprise by fast-tracking the hosting contest to open immediately.<\/p>\n

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Saudi Arabia declared its long-expected interest this week within hours of the FIFA decision.<\/p>\n

Focus also turned to Australia, maybe in a potential reunion with 2023 Women\u2019s World Cup co-host New Zealand.<\/p>\n

FIFA gave potential bidders until the end of the month to express interest and a November 30 deadline to submit \u201ccompleted bidding agreements". That gives potential bidders only eight weeks to provide documents typically needing approval by the federal government. A state-backed bid in the Saudi political system faces fewer challenges than in a democracy like Australia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"It looks much more difficult now," Foster told Nine's Today<\/em> of Australia's chances of hosting the 2034 version of the tournament.<\/p>\n

"It's clear how much power and influence Saudi Arabia is now able to exert over FIFA. In fact Mohammed Bin Salman (Saudi Arabia crown prince and prime minister) may as well take Infantino's job.<\/p>\n

"The last five years political and financial influence has made a big impact. They've given Australia 25 days to potentially put a bid forward and Saudi Arabia were able to do something unprecedented to get three different confederations to collaborate for the 2030 bid in order for them to have 2034.<\/p>\n

"The policy of rotation meant the six confederations could bid for 2034 12 years ahead of what would have normally been the case."<\/p>\n

Then there is FIFA\u2019s demand for stadiums of at least 40,000-seating capacity to host the now-enlarged men\u2019s tournament. Qatar needed only eight stadiums for the 32-team, 64-game World Cup last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs part of their bid, the member association(s) must propose a minimum of 14 suitable stadiums, of which at least seven must be existing stadiums,\u201d FIFA said Thursday in the \u201cOverview of the Bidding Process\u201d document.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia already meets the FIFA target with at least seven already built or under construction stadiums ahead of hosting the 2027 Asian Cup.<\/p>\n

\"Crown<\/p>\n

In Australia, some have already started questioning whether the country has seven soccer stadiums ready to go. Smaller venues were accepted for the Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

The circular Melbourne Cricket Ground, which also stages Aussie Rules football, was the centerpiece of Australia\u2019s ill-fated bid 13 years ago for the 2022 World Cup. However, it is not so popular with football fans.<\/p>\n

So is Australia in for a multi-billion dollar hosting project that is short on advance notice and long on FIFA demands?<\/p>\n

\u201cAs stated previously, Football Australia is exploring the possibility of bidding for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup and\/or the FIFA World Cup 2034,\u201d Australian soccer federation CEO James Johnson said in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n

Those comments could be interpreted as leverage in a play to get a decent compensation prize from FIFA in the form of the 32-team club tournament \u2014 a prestige event that must be played in June-July 2029 to fit Europe\u2019s football calendar and so is unsuited to the extreme summer heat in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

"We certainly want to host a men's World Cup," Foster added. "James Johnson talked about a Club World Cup or even the Youth World Cup.<\/p>\n

"I think Australia will have to trade the leverage they currently have to continue to host some major FIFA events.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

"If Saudi Arabia do secure the 2034 World Cup, and I think it's highly likely through their influence, that means Australia would have to wait 12 years post that. We're talking (2046) or something because of that rotation. This will certainly test the political skills of Australia."<\/p>\n

A World Cup in Saudi Arabia in 2034 would likely be played in November-December, as it was in Qatar, and FIFA has prepared for that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing of the competition is a matter that is formally approved after the appointment of the host member association,\u201d the governing body stated in bidding documents.<\/p>\n

Johnson, a former senior executive at FIFA and Manchester City, also is a lawyer who will have noted the rapid reaction Wednesday coming from the Asian Football Confederation. The 47-nation AFC has included Australia for nearly two decades after it moved from Oceania to seek a higher level of competition for its teams. Australia and Saudi Arabia are, in fact, teammates in the Asian soccer governing body.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire Asian football family will stand united in support of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia\u2019s momentous initiative,\u201d said AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who is a member of the royal family of Bahrain. It is an ally of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\"FIFA<\/p>\n

Infantino's closeness to Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on frequent visits to the oil-rich kingdom has been clear since before the 2018 World Cup. Back then, Infantino was pushing Qatar to share hosting of a 48-team World Cup with its regional neighbors despite the country being subject to a Saudi-led diplomatic and economic boycott. That plan was resisted.<\/p>\n

The longer term goal has been awarding Saudi Arabia its own World Cup.<\/p>\n

"There's very serious human rights issues in Saudi Arabia that we saw with Qatar," Foster added. "I'm a big supporter of any country being able to bid and have a World Cup.<\/p>\n

"We saw the impact here and how important it is to share the game around the world. A Saudi bid in theory is wonderful.<\/p>\n

"However, the questions are what human rights changes or objectives need to be met for them to be able to host, that's the question FIFA should be asking. I don't have huge confidence that's going to be asked, because of what we saw in Qatar."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi Arabia's ascent to likely 2034 World Cup hosts means Australia's next chance at hosting the men's tournament will come in 2046, says former Socceroo […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":336579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=336574"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336583,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336574\/revisions\/336583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/336579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=336574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=336574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=336574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}