Within days, Saudi had the key backing of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), scuppering any faint prospect of Australia teaming up with Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. That gave Saudi a free run at 2034, and the Australians duly bowed out of what can barely be called a race.

Saudi Arabia has been officially confirmed by FIFA as host of the 2034 World Cup in men’s soccer. The Saudi bid was the only candidate and was acclaimed by the applause of more than 200 FIFA member federations.

When former FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced in December 2010 that Russia and Qatar would host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively, there was widespread shock and anger around the globe. The announcement,

Global soccer governing body FIFA has officially announced the hosts for the next two men’s World Cups. However, the outcome was no surprise.That’s because there was only one bid each for both the 2030 and 2034 tournaments – Spain,

The inevitable result has been clear since last year. Saudi Arabia will be confirmed by FIFA as the 2034 World Cup host on Wednesday.

Sending the World Cup to Saudi Arabia was the most seismic sporting announcement in a decade, but at Fifa HQ it was designed to seem like just an ordinary Wednesday. Behind firmly-closed doors, Gianni Infantino kicked off his 3pm work-from-home-style Zoom meeting presenting not to the great and good of football,

Saudi Arabia scored a major win in its campaign to attract major sports events to the kingdom when it was formally appointed as the 2034 World Cup host on Wednesday. Still, many questions remain about the tournament as well as the 2030 World Cup,

A number of rights organisations strongly criticised FIFA after the announcement, pointing to Saudi's human rights record.The Kingdom has invested heavily in sport over the last few years, although critics,