Asean mulls bid for 2034 World Cup

KUALA LUMPUR: The country's dream of hosting the FIFA World Cup could be a reality after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) agreed to conduct a feasibility study towards a credible bid for 2034 edition.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (pix) said Asean sports ministers have expressed support to Malaysia's initiative to conduct immediately a study on the possibility of being host to the quadrennial global footballing event.
"I would like to stress here that the agreement is not for us to make a bid to host the World Cup, but to study whether a bid is feasible or not, which will be conducted by the Asean Football Federation (AFF).
"Once the study is done, we will forward the result to our respective governments, through our football associations, to decide whether we should form a joint committee for the bid," he told a a press conference today after the Third Asean Ministerial Meeting on Sports (AMMS-3).
Khairy said they hoped to complete the feasibility study by next year, and come up with the joint committee then.
He explained that they have to forward any bidding documents to FIFA by 2019 to stand any chance of playing host.
Khairy added that the cost to put in a bid is still yet unclear as it will mainly depend on how many of the Asean nations will be hosting the event.
"We have to take into account other factors as not all the countries will play host.
"For 10 countries to host may not be accepted by FIFA. I was made to understand that FIFA may consider having four nations as host," he added.
On the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) election on Aug 22, Khairy has urged for a fair, clean and independent election, and warned any culture of extremism during the campaign process.
He added that the government will not interfere with the election and its candidates, saying: "This is a sports association election, it will not be right for the government to comment and get involved."
For the first time in 17 years, OCM president Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja'afar will be challenged, with Malaysian Golf Association president Tan Sri Mohd Anwar Mohd Nor also fighting for the top post.