Saudi Arabia have recently been handed the honour of hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup, a slap in the face to human rights progressives. In the past the honour was handed to nations with past footballing success and the existing infrastructure to hold an event at a large enough scale. Today it's handed to whichever nations are able to cough up the most money to FIFA, with no regard for footballing culture or passion. Uruguay, Italy, France and Brazil were the first four host nations. The tournament would then enter new markets in Asia through Japan and South Korea in 2002 and then Africa through South Africa in 2010. These tournaments were huge for the hosts in growing the game of football in their respective nations and continents. The existing fanbases relished the opportunity to showcase their national culture and identity on a stage which they had never had previously. The World Cup is also an incredibly attractive proposition when taking into account the financial benefits. With 48 (rising from 32 in 2026) nations in the tournament, economic activity derived from tourism is expected to pump in billions for the national economy.
Hosting a World Cup is most definitely a privilege but why is Saudi Arabia as a host so problematic to people? In the summer of 2023, a year after Qatar hosted a World Cup, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, PIF, took over 4 of the biggest football clubs in the nation. The PIF aims to invest Saudi money into different areas away from simply oil and natural resources. This is the same PIF which is taking over both the golf and boxing markets. With their newfound wealth the Saudi football clubs; Al-Ittihad, Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli went on somewhat of a spending spree splashing the cash on European footballing talents with the aim of growing the game in their nation. At first it was players nearing the end of their careers such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar in 2023. The players signed short-term deals with astronomical wages, something which was made more enticing by the lack of personal income tax in the nation. The reason I point to this is because of the desired impact of these signings. To grow their footballing profile, Saudi Arabia had to rapidly improve the amount of world class talents in their national first division. This would, theoretically, bring in more fans to the sport and then the stadiums. Saudi Arabia's sporting culture had previously been virtually non-existent, something which could be considered strange for a nation with a 30 million population. Al-Hilal have had previous success in the Asian Champions League however the desire from Saudis to engage in the sport simply wasn't there. In the season from August 2022 to May 2023, the year after their Champions League success Al-Hilal had an average attendance of 9,854. For context the stadium holds 60,000 people and the club's average attendance, even after bringing in some of the world's best players, was under that of England's third division. This isn't aimed towards the Saudi people as there are many other nations with no real passion for football. The issue is that FIFA, the governing body of football, who are meant to have the best interests of the world's fans at heart, were able to just hand over the World Cup to a nation just because they have the money.
FIFA is a broken organisation
The current World Cup hosting process is now, more than ever, beginning to look incredibly inadequate in selecting the best tournament host. This was first revealed to us in 2015 in the FIFA Corruption Case where it was alleged by the FBI that bribery played a key role in deciding the hosts of 2010 World Cup. The claim is that the South African Football Federation paid a 10 million dollar bribe to FIFA vice-president Jack Warner to ensure that their bid would be successful. South Africa vehemently denies this. However, Mr Warner received the honour of being "banned from football" by FIFA and is currently facing extradition to the US on corruption charges; which include money laundering and wire fraud. The hosting process goes through stages but the general overview is that if you have the stadiums in place, got a survivable transport system and pledge to be slightly sustainable then you're good to go. This is until you get to the FIFA Council, these are a small group of people at the top of the organisation who have the final say on the selection process. Whether they were bribed or not is a matter for another day, the main issue with this system is the disregard for anything outside of tournament logistics and financial circumstances. My nation could be violating human rights, annexing neighbouring countries, and imprisoning political opponents, as long as FIFA see enough buses in the city centre then they'll just turn a blind eye and move on. As mentioned before, hosting the World Cup is a privilege, a privilege some nations deserve more than others.
Saudi sportswashing
The World Cup will allow you to cover up flaws with a month long sporting event, diverting global attention to the atrocities you may be committing behind closed doors. This is more commonly known as sportswashing and has become regular practice for Saudi Arabia. The nation is one of the world hotspots for executions alongside China and Iran with the nation putting hundreds of people to death every single year. In 2016 a cleric who supported anti-government protests was put to death. In 2022, after pledging to tone down the use of capital punishment 81 men were put to death with it being deemed 'highly unlikely' that any of them received a fair trial. In this particular case it's been alleged that the convicted citizens were tortured during interrogation, something which violates UN convention. The Human Rights Watch published an article in 2021 where they claimed to have received information that Saudi Arabia were torturing Women's Rights Activists with 'electric shocks, beatings, whippings and sexual harassment'. Journalist Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi was a critic of the Saudi King and Crown Prince and was forced to leave the nation. He was assassinated in Turkey with strong indication that it was on the order of Crown Prince bin Salman.
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| Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman |
Saudi Arabian people, no matter how much money the government wants to throw at this project, have no interest in the sport of football. Matches are played in empty stadiums with the migrant workers who built them being subjected to inhumane treatments at the hands of their employers. Saudi Arabia in spite of their massive wealth is ruled by two dictatorial autocrats who have no regard for human rights and the wellbeing of anyone else other than the Saudi elites. I can fully guarantee, once the world descends on Riyadh that public executions are going to magically stop and everyone's going to forget about the brutalities perpetrated by the Saudi state. I would like to hope that FIFA's president after Gianni Infantino will be an individual who actually cares about the sport, but until then, Saudi Arabia have successfully purchased football.