Football Australia CEO James Johnson has revealed they will “look at” making a bid for the 2034 FIFA Men’s World Cup, as they look to build off the success of the Women’s World Cup on home soil this year.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has been a smash hit down under, with over a million fans pouring into stadiums throughout the group stages and are on track to surpass the pre-tournament estimate of 1.9 million total attendees.
Australia’s 4-0 win over Canada in their last group stage contest smashed TV ratings, with close to five million people tuning in on Channel 7 to watch the contest.
Johnson said on Friday that FA will look into hosting big competitions in the future, including the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup and potentially the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup – which he said they will “look at” as well.
“We’re going to bid for big competitions,” he said.
“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.
“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 have a look at as well.
“But our focus right now is on ensuring that we deliver an excellent back end of the Women’s World Cup, once we get that in place, and we can come out on August 21 and say it was the best Women’s World Cup ever. That then allows us to have the next discussion and put in place a strategy, which is what is the next tournament that we bid for.
“And the two that I think will be part of that discussion will be the Club World Cup in 2029 and the men’s World Cup in 2034.”
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Australia have never hosted a men’s World Cup before and have previously fallen short in the race to secure hosting rights in 2018 and 2022 to Russia and Qatar.
Johnson is hopeful Australia could follow the example of Canada, who hosted the 2015 Women’s World Cup and will now co-host the 2026 Men’s World Cup alongside the USA and Mexico.
“Australia will no doubt host a men’s World Cup one day… and what better way to do that than on the back of the best-ever Women’s World Cup,” he said.
“Canada hosted a very good Women’s World Cup in 2015, and 11 years later, funnily enough, they’re hosting [the men’s] together with the United States and Mexico.
“I think that’s a very good blueprint, if you like, is that if you host big, major tournaments, organisations like FIFA get comfortable to give you more. That’s where we want to be.”
