Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid: FIFA is reportedly overlooking reports on human rights abuses

FIFA is now accused of overlooking the reports on human rights violations in the Middle East and reportedly not taking any action regarding the bid of the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup, Saudi Arabia.

A group of internationally acclaimed legal experts, Mark Pieth, Stefan Wehrenberg, and Rodney Dixon claimed that FIFA is not responding to the reports they issued on 22nd May 2024 regarding serious human rights violations in Saudi Arabia.

The wheel of events

FIFA confirmed beforehand in June 2023 that they want to arrange the 2034 World Cup only in Asia or Oceania. Saudi Arabian Football Federation stormed into the race to win the hosting rights while competing with Australia. On 31st October 2023, the only other bidding nation Australia withdrew from the race before the FIFA deadline, leaving Saudi Arabia to be the ultimate destination of the 2034 FIFA World Cup. 

On 1st November 2023, FIFA President Gianni Infantino confirmed that Saudi Arabia is the only nation to submit a declaration of interest to host the 2034 World Cup before the deadline set by FIFA, which automatically gives them the honour of hosting the most prestigious sporting event on planet Earth. He stated in his Instagram post: 

The GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH will be organised by 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇲🇽 Mexico and the 🇺🇸 United States in 2026 - in North America. The next two editions of the FIFA World Cup are set to be hosted in Africa (🇲🇦 Morocco) and Europe (🇵🇹 Portugal and 🇪🇸 Spain) - with three celebratory matches played in South America (🇦🇷 Argentina, 🇵🇾 Paraguay and 🇺🇾 Uruguay) - in 2030 and in Asia (🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia) in 2034. Three editions, five continents and ten countries involved in staging matches in the tournament - that's making football truly global!

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This confirmation winded up with severe criticisms back in that time as FIFA was accused of breaking its own rules on human rights. After a controversial FIFA World Cup organized in Qatar in 2022 with allegations of migrant workers dying while building the stadiums, FIFA should have scrutinized the human rights issues for the upcoming editions of the tournament. According to various reports, human rights practices in Saudi Arabia are non-existent with its suppression of freedom of speech, suppression of women's rights, and gender equality issues. 

Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, the organization that published an annex of FIFA’s statutory human rights requirements, stated:

"Barely a year after the human rights catastrophes of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, FIFA has failed to learn the lesson that awarding multi-billion dollar events without due diligence and transparency can risk corruption and major human rights abuses, the possibility that FIFA could award Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup despite its appalling human rights record and closed door to any monitoring exposes FIFA’s commitments to human rights as a sham."

The NGO, Human Rights Watch accused FIFA of breaching its own rules on Human Rights back in 2023 as they published an annex pointing out "FIFA’s statutory human rights requirements, including due diligence, bidding to host events, stakeholder consultation, independent human rights monitoring, and remedy."

The trio's reports on human rights violation

According to The Associated Press, a 22-page document was delivered to FIFA headquarters in Zurich on 22nd May 2024 on behalf of Mark Pieth, the Swiss governance expert along with Stefan Wehrenberg and British barrister Rodney Dixon. 

"Let's give FIFA a chance," Pieth told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

But on 11th October 2024, the trio issued a statement mentioning FIFA is yet to respond to their report and is not considering the human rights issues very seriously. According to the reports published by The Guardian, Richard Dixon said that FIFA had failed to respond to their report though five months had passed after the submission. He further stated:

"We are calling on FIFA, with its proud history of taking a stance in favour of human rights, to do exactly that right now and it is simply not good enough to not respond at all to our report. There has to be a consultation. Things have to change if Saudi is going to be considered for the World Cup. We can’t have vague recommendations or straw man scenarios."

Prof. Mark Pieth, who worked with FIFA a decade ago as chairman of its Independent Governance Committee, expressed his concern as well:

"My understanding is that Saudi Arabia is quite a bit nervous [about public criticism] and they are dangerous. That’s my take. I’m not shy to say it in public. People are really dealing with the devil here. So there is a big risk."

The question remains

FIFA is now under pressure with all these allegations hovering over them and the question still remains, will they take any action? As FIFA President Gianni Infantino is often very seen publicly with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, it does not look very transparent for any party in the discussion of Saudi winning the bid to host the prestigious tournament in 2034.

With all the allegations of violating human rights, Saudi Arabia is still rebranding their image on international premises, especially through sports and arranging sporting events. The Saudi government is reportedly emphasizing to invest in sports, especially in football. The meteoric rise of the Saudi Pro League has strengthened SAFF's grounds as well. 

FIFA did not respond to the reports issued by Pieth, Wehrenberg, and Dixon and kept their silence intact during the allegations put forth by Human Rights Watch. The question still remains, will FIFA take the human rights violation issues under consideration?