ALQST’s 23-page briefing, "An Open Field for Violations: Saudi Arabia’s 2034 FIFA World Cup bid", unpacks Saudi Arabia’s Bid Book and accompanying Human Rights Strategy for the World Cup, as well as the “Independent Context Assessment” on human rights carried out by Riyadh-based law firm AS&H Clifford Chance. It that serious shortcomings in the bid point to a real risk of widescale violations.
Introduction
Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 FIFA men’s World Cup fails on many counts to meet the sporting body’s human rights requirements, and must be rejected if not beefed up with binding agreements to prevent rights violations. Serious shortcomings in the Saudi proposals leave the field open to direct risk of violations of labour and basic civil rights, as well as the broader risk of legitimising the Saudi authorities’ repressive rule.
Detailed research conducted by ALQST in the run-up to the bidding process revealed abuses already taking place in two of the main tournament venues, Neom and Jeddah Central, and our ongoing monitoring of violations in the country provides further damning evidence that the Saudi kingdom is not fit to host this globally significant event.
FIFA is due to take a final decision on awarding hosting rights on 11 December 2024, with Saudi Arabia the sole bidder for the 2034 tournament. Ahead of the vote, on 29 November, FIFA published its own evaluation of the bid. Mirroring the same fundamental flaws found in the bid itself, the FIFA report substantially minimises the potential human rights risks associated with the tournament, giving Saudi Arabia a “medium” human rights risk rating overall and determining that the bid “qualifies” for consideration, effectively nodding it through unchallenged.
The bid documents submitted by Riyadh make some valid arguments for Saudi Arabia to host the FIFA World Cup, including the youth of its population (63% are under 30) and the sport’s massive popularity in the kingdom. Saudi citizens and residents undoubtedly deserve the honour and opportunity of hosting the 2034 tournament to showcase their country, their culture and love of football to the world. But these considerations are heavily outweighed by other factors:
- Serious risks of human rights violations are either inadequately addressed or totally ignored in the bid documentation.
- Awarding the event to Saudi Arabia on this basis would violate FIFA’s own policies and procedures.
- Allowing Saudi Arabia’s harshly repressive rulers to host the FIFA World Cup would lend them a spurious legitimacy and licence to double down on their notorious abuses.
- Both the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and FIFA itself have barely acknowledged the requirement for stakeholder engagement in the bidding process: the Saudi public have not had their say.
