Saudi sportswashers pull off ultimate coup to host World Cup

Securing the FIFA World Cup or Olympics has been a goal for Saudi Arabia, but the speed with which it has been achieved is remarkable.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman MBS, right, and FIFA president Gianni Infantino in Riyadh. Picture: AFP

On the eve of the confirmation that Saudi Arabia will be given a free run to host FIFA’s World Cup in 2034, the heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury was extolling the virtues of the Gulf kingdom in a TV interview, concluding: “A massive shout-out to the big boss himself, MBS.”

If evidence was needed about the success of the sportswashing project that MBS – Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman – initiated, then Fury, who is being paid £150m ($287m) for two fights in Saudi Arabia, provided it in abundance.

Securing the World Cup or Olympics was the ultimate aim of Saudi Arabia’s campaign, and given that it only began in 2017 the speed with which it has been achieved is remarkable. The confirmation was effectively provided when Australia ruled itself out of the race for the 2034 tournament, leaving the Saudis as sole bidders.

As for FIFA, which has stacked the deck to favour Saudi Arabia, its much-heralded policy of World Cup hosts having to undergo stringent human rights checks has been declared “a sham” by campaigners.

FIFA announced on October 4 that the bidding process for 2034 would take place concurrently with the one for the 2030 tournament, but it gave potential bidders only until October 31 to register interest. Only countries from the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania could bid for 2034.

That caught most of the world by surprise, but not everyone: within minutes Bin Salman had announced the Saudi bid. That was immediately followed by the AFC’s president, Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, stating “the entire Asian football family” will support Saudi Arabia – despite the fact that other member countries Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia were in talks over a rival joint bid.

James Johnson, the chief executive of Football Australia, admitted FIFA’s announcement about the 2034 bidding process had been unexpected. The joint bid collapsed when Indonesia and Malaysia supported the Saudis.

“It was a little bit of a surprise,” he said. “But we’re adults and we just try to roll with it ... and try to find the best solution that is in Australia’s interests.”

Australia is instead targeting the 2026 Asian Women’s Cup and FIFA’s 2029 Club World Cup. Johnson said Australia was still scarred by memories of losing out to Qatar 13 years ago in the bid for the 2022 men’s tournament.

“We went into the process in 2010 and got one vote,” he added. “We don’t want to end up in a situation like that again. We have to be realistic: Saudi is a strong bid. They have a lot of resources.

“They are disrupting European football. This is a disruption in the market and that is what positions Saudi in a strong way. From the government, top down, they are prioritising investment in football. That is difficult to compete with.”

Saudi Arabia will be the first single host of a 48-team World Cup – 2026 will be shared by the United States, Canada, Mexico and 2030 by Spain, Portugal and Morocco, plus three matches in South America. The Saudi tournament will require 14 stadiums and it will almost certainly have to be played in the winter, as happened last year in neighbouring Qatar, because of the fierce summer temperatures.

That will mean a massive building project and is likely to focus attention on the treatment of migrant workers after the controversy in Qatar. Saudi Arabia’s population of 35.9 million is 14 times higher than Qatar’s, and about a third are non-citizens.

Three new stadiums, in Riyadh, Dammam and the Qiddiya mega entertainment project, are being built for the 2027 Asia Cup, and others in those cities and Jeddah will be renovated.

Fans are likely to face even tighter restrictions on alcohol than in Qatar as Saudi Arabia is completely dry.

The country’s treatment of women and political opponents is also set to become a focus of the 2034 World Cup. The campaigning organisation Human Rights Watch said that FIFA had broken its own policy and claimed that awarding Saudi Arabia the World Cup “despite its appalling human rights record ... exposes FIFA’s commitments to human rights as a sham”.

The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has close links to Saudi Arabia, but Human Rights Watch questioned the “unreasonably tight” deadline for 2034 bids. Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said: “Barely a year after the human rights catastrophes of the 2022 Qatar World Cup, FIFA has failed to learn the lesson that awarding multibillion-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.

“Saudi Arabia’s appalling human rights record has deteriorated under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s rule, including mass executions, continued repression of women’s rights under its male guardianship system, and the killing of hundreds of migrants at the Saudi-Yemen border.”

Worden said that critics of Saudi Arabia’s rulers face torture and imprisonment, and that same-sex relationships are illegal and can carry the death sentence. She added that Saudi authorities impose the “kafala” labour migration system that allows employers to control migrant workers’ legal status and has led to mass abuses.

The Sport & Rights Alliance, a coalition of human rights and anti-corruption organisations, trade unions and fans representatives, said that the lack of competition to host the World Cup risks undermining FIFA’s leverage to improve human rights. “FIFA must be prepared to halt the bidding process if serious human rights risks are not credibly addressed,” Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of economic and social justice, said.

FIFA and Saudi Arabia know this will attract international attention. With a war chest to bankroll “shout-outs” from the likes of Fury, they may have decided that they can deal with it.

THE TIMES