Saudi Arabia will host the men’s football World Cup in 2034. The bidding process is technically ongoing, but Riyadh is now playing in a field of one after Australia decided not to put forward a rival bid ahead of yesterday’s deadline. Fifa, football’s global governing body, last month brought forward the bidding process for 2034 by three years, said the host country must come from either Asia or Oceania and gave nations just three weeks to put bids forward. The prospect of a World Cup in the Kingdom underscores Saudi’s push into football and other global sports – Saudi clubs spent a record £800 million just on football players this summer. The noise of that kind of money will likely drown out the criticism from human rights campaigners and fans.