Australia are launching a bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup alongside up to a number of south-east Asian countries.
Ian Ransom of Fairfax Media is reporting that the FFA have confirmed their intentions in a statement to Reuters.
“An Indonesia-Australia joint bid was also discussed at last week’s ASEAN Football Federation Council Meeting in Laos,” it reads.
The ASEAN bloc recently endorsed an audacious bid to co-host the 2034 World Cup among ten different countries in the region, including Indonesia, but not including Australia.
However, with the World Cup set to expand from 32 teams to 48 in 2026, multi-country bids are being viewed as an increasingly viable option for the tournament. After 2022’s controversial Qatar event, the USA, Canada and Mexico will all combine to host the World Cup in 2026, while several multi-country groups are in the box seat to host the 2030 tournament; an African group (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia), a South American group (Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile) and three European ones (Romania, Greece, Bulgaria and Serbia, UK and Northern Ireland, and Portugal and Spain).
Australia put together a comprehensive bid to host the 2022 World Cup, only for the event to be controversially awarded to Qatar. Allegations of bribery and corruption have long since marred the bidding process for that tournament, with the selection nevertheless attracting severe criticism over cultural and environmental factors, as well as alleged human rights abuses during the construction process.
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lapsedcyclist
Roar Rookie
Australia's $46 million 2022 World Cup bid never had a chance it produced one vote from Germany's "Der Kaiser". A joint bid from Australia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. Spread the financial burden. 16 cities 16 stadiums 2034 Bid (9 Nations) Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane (Australia) Phnom Penh (Cambodia) Jakarta, Samarinda & Surabay (Indonesia) Kuala Lumpur, Shah Alam & Kuala Terengganu (Malaysia) Yangon (Myanmar) Manila (Philippines) Singapore (Singapore) Bangkok (Thailand) Ho Chi Minh City & Hanoi (Vietnam) Australian, Indonesian & Malaysian teams would have guaranteed spots in tournament because of higher number stadiums and financial exposure. Semi finals and final (selection to be drawn from hat) in game in each of these three countries. The remaining 6 national teams would stage a home and away tournament in November 2033 for a World Cup final berth.
MarkD
Guest
Think thats callled the Olympics payment plan .
Ad-O
Guest
Put the World Cup in an AFL stadium and the rest of the world will think we are a joke.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Let us all hope that is the case.
Tlux
Guest
Just take the money and flush it down the toilet already. Indonesia has a better chance of hosting the Winter Olympics than it does the world cup.
lesterlike
Roar Rookie
The MCG and Optus Stadium, or any other AFL Stadium, should not be anywhere near any new football bids.
Paul2
Guest
My guess is the MCG and Optus would both be unavailable.
chris
Guest
James sokkah isnt worth spending one cent on to people like christo the daddyo. Spending money on Olympics and not getting them, well, that's different! Its the Olympics after all.
Brian
Guest
A joint bid would only need 4 stadiums hosting 20 or so games. Suncorp, Stadium Australia, MCG, Optus Stadium and your done.
Brian
Guest
Geez Qatar was a stretch before worrying about Myanmar or Brunei. The original bi wa going to be Indonesia and Thailand. The best bet in terms of winning the bid and our perspective would surely be a 3 country bid of Indonesia, Australia and Thailand. There 's 80 games in the new format so Australia would host about 25. That's 5 games in each of our biggest cities.
lesterlike
Roar Rookie
We aren't stadium crazy when it comes to the biggest events. Half of Australia's stadiums are either too small or not Fifa compliently (like Adelaide Oval). We would need to build more to even Co Host a world cup and AFL stadiums aren't good enough.
At work
Roar Rookie
Nah it's too hilly :)
Waz
Roar Rookie
Have you met the Bakries??
At work
Roar Rookie
Yes I do, but at least they’re close and a very short flight or a ferry ride. Australia is nowhere near any Asian nations so we either go it alone or not at all. But I’ll stop here as I know you’ve stated on Twitter you’re not interested in talking this nonsense until we fix our leagues. Which I quite agree with.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
I quote from the article itself: "The ASEAN bloc recently endorsed an audacious bid to co-host the 2034 World Cup among ten different countries in the region, including Indonesia, but not including Australia. "
jamesb
Roar Guru
With Olympic bids, Australia did miss out on Brisbane '92 and Melbourne '96. Even with the successful Sydney 2000 bid, there was an element of votebuying. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/01/olym-j30.html At least the one thing the FFA has learnt is that Australia can't host it on their own. Still a tough ask though...
chris
Guest
Great news. We should bid for it and money is no object.
Waz
Roar Rookie
They most likely do right. The FFA historically doesn’t seem to have engaged with AFF anyway, but this might represent a change in approach.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
So we've learned nothing from the previous attempt. Sigh...
Stevo
Roar Rookie
Yes, was thinking politically. Not to say that politics won’t play a big part in this emerging story.