Aussies get World Cup bug and ponder hosting bid for 2034 men’s finals

August 4 – Australia are considering a bid to stage the 2034 men’s World Cup following the success of the current women’s version.

Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said the body was “looking at” both the expanded Club World Cup and the men’s World Cup.

“Our vision is to be local and global. And the way that we can be at our best in Australia is when we’re bringing big global football content, the biggest events in the world, back to our local communities,” he was quoted as saying by AFP.

“We’re seeing that right now with the Women’s World Cup, so we see the success of the Women’s World Cup as being a stepping stone towards bidding for other competitions.

“There’s the Club World Cup in 2029 that we’re going to take a look at and then there’s the men’s World Cup in 2034 that we’re also going to look at as well.

“Australia will no doubt host a men’s World Cup one day. What better way to do that than on the back of the best-ever Women’s World Cup.”

Johnson used the example of Canada, which hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2015 and is now set to stage the next men’s tournament along with the United States and Mexico in 2026.

“I think that’s a very good blueprint. And what we can learn from the Canadians is that if you host big, major tournaments, organisations like FIFA get comfortable to give you more.”

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