FIFA confirms Saudi Arabia as 2034 World Cup host

The Middle East nation were the sole bidders for the finals in 10 years, with an online FIFA Congress voting in favor of their staging despite the huge controversy surrounding the bid.

Morocco, Spain, and Portugal will co-host the 2030 World Cup, with the first three matches of that tournament held in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

The opening match of the 2030 World Cup will be played in Uruguay to mark 100 years since inaugural 1930 finals, with the next two games to be staged in Argentina and Paraguay respectively before the rest of the tournament is played in the three main co-host countries.

The hosts for both World Cups were confirmed at Wednesday's Extraordinary Fifa Congress.

The agreement for South America to stage the opening games in 2030 - reached in October last year - paved the way for Saudi Arabia to be sole hosts in 2034.

Saudi Arabia confirmed their interest in hosting on the same day the 2030 agreement was made public, with FIFA limiting further expressions of interest to nations from the Asian and Oceania confederations and setting a deadline of less than a month to declare that interest.

Australia, considered the only realistic challenger to Saudi Arabia, confirmed on Oct. 31 last year that they would not be bidding.

The Football Association supported the 2030 and 2034 bids, and is expected to issue a statement later explaining its decision.