Countries given under a month to express interest in hostingFA boss says Saudi bid meant ‘numbers were stacked against us’
Football Australia’s chief executive, James Johnson, has conceded Fifa’s abbreviated process that left Saudi Arabia as the only bidder to host the 2034 men’s World Cup caught them by surprise, but that he hoped to beat the Gulf nation to the rights to the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup “on merit”.
Fifa surprised observers last month when it allocated the 2034 showpiece to Asia and demanded countries seeking to host the tournament submit expressions of interest less than one month after it opened bidding.
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