So the 2034 WC will definitely be hosted by AFC (and maybe OFC). This has actually become a pretty big sport news story in Australia today. FIFA giving Australia only 25 days to make a decision whether to bid on the 2034 WC or not.
All smacks of FIFA already deciding it's going to Saudi Arabia. Reinforced by the AFC President (who is also a FIFA Vice President) already publicly backing Saudi.
Sounds like FIFA will decide on the 2030 & 2034 hosts together - though Portugal, Spaoin & Morocco are already confirmed as the other approved bid for 20230. Think I have that correct. Like Brisbane in the end was the only IOC approved bid for 2032 Olympics.
If Australia (presumably joint NZ & some SE Asian countries) did launch a bid, this could fracture relations in AFC.
Always seems that when the FIFA Congress vote on hosting rights, each Confederation votes as a bloc. But could Saudi verus Australia/NZ/Malaysia etc see a split AFC vote East veru West. How would others like UEFA, CONEMBOL, CONCACAF & CAF vote? If the days of brown envelopes and dirty vote buying are over (like the Qataris did), could an Australian co host bid stand a chance?
You'd think UEFA would prefer a normal June-July WC, which is presumably how an Australian based bid would do it.
Australia (and NZ etc) will have to think about this long and hard. Australia's already perilous position in AFC could be at large risk here, and they will be wary of wasting $45M like their last bid for the 2022 WC, to just embarrassingly get one vote. But then if following WCs follow the normal rotation through the other Confederations could be 16-20 years (so 2050-2054) before Aus/NZ can bid again!
James Johnson also said that Australia might bid on hosting the expanded 32 team CWC. So I guess that would be great Claytons prize.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/05/australia-fifa-world-cup-2034-bid-saudi-arabia-challenge