Sydney, Nov 1:  Australia has decided against bidding for the 2034 Fifa World Cup, paving the way for Saudi Arabia to host the tournament. Football Australia issued a statement on Tuesday hours before Fifa’s deadline for declarations of interest confirming it would not lodge a bid.

“We have explored the opportunity to bid to host the Fifa World Cup and – having taken all factors into consideration – we have reached the conclusion not to do so for the 2034 competition,” an FA statement read.

FA reiterated its interest in hosting the Women’s Asian Cup in 2026 and the 2029 Club World Cup.

“For international tournament hosting, the Australian time zones provide significant opportunities for broadcasters, and we are within touching distance of billions of people in Asia and Oceania, which also helps to provide a strong commercial outlook for competitions,” FA said.

Australia had been issued indirect warnings by some of football’s most powerful administrators not to bid for the 2034 men’s World Cup ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.

A growing international bloc had thrown its weight behind a Saudi Arabia bid since Fifa announced the process for the 2034 tournament earlier this month. The tournament in 11 years will be hosted by a country in the Asian confederation, of which Australia is a part.