Saudi Arabia to host 2034 soccer World Cup as human rights groups cry foul
Amnesty statement co-signed by several groups warns migrant workers will be exploited; separate group’s statement says laborers already working 10-hour shifts in extreme heat
Saudi Arabia was officially confirmed Wednesday by FIFA as host of the 2034 World Cup in men’s soccer, giving the oil-rich kingdom its biggest prize yet for massive spending on global sports driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Saudi bid was the only candidate and was acclaimed by the applause of more than 200 FIFA member federations. They took part remotely in an online meeting hosted in Zurich by the soccer body’s president Gianni Infantino.
“The vote of the congress is loud and clear,” said Infantino, who had asked officials on a bank of screens to clap their hands at head level to show their support.
The decision was combined with approving the only candidate to host the 2030 World Cup. Spain, Portugal, and Morocco will co-host a six-nation project, with Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay each getting one of the 104 games.
The South American connection will mark the centenary of Uruguay hosting the first World Cup in 1930.
The decisions complete a mostly opaque 15-month bid process which Infantino helped steer toward Saudi Arabia without a rival candidate, without taking questions, and which human rights groups warn will put the lives of migrant workers at risk.
FIFA and Saudi officials have said hosting the 2034 tournament can accelerate change, including more freedoms and rights for women, with Infantino on Wednesday calling the World Cup a “unique catalyst for positive social change and unity.”
“I fully trust our hosts to address all open points in this process, and deliver a World Cup that meets the world’s expectations,” the FIFA president said.
An international collective of rights groups said FIFA made a “reckless decision” to approve Saudi Arabia without getting public assurances, and the Football Supporters Europe group said it was “the day football truly lost its mind.”
A fast-track path to victory was cleared last year by FIFA accepting the three-continent hosting plan for the 2030 World Cup. It meant only soccer federations in Asia and Oceania were eligible for the 2034 contest, and FIFA gave them less than four weeks to declare. Only Saudi Arabia did.
“Already we look forward to welcoming the world, to sharing our beautiful country, our culture, and our deep passion for the game with open arms and warm hearts,” Saudi sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal said in a statement.
The win will kick off a decade of scrutiny on Saudi labor laws and treatment of workers mostly from South Asia needed to help build and upgrade 15 stadiums, plus hotels and transport networks ahead of the 104-game tournament.
One of the stadiums is planned to be 350 meters (yards) above the ground in Neom — a futuristic city that does not yet exist — and another named for the crown prince is designed to be atop a 200-meter cliff near Riyadh.
During the bid campaign, FIFA has accepted limited scrutiny of Saudi Arabia’s human rights record that was widely criticized this year at the United Nations.
Saudi and international rights groups and activists warned FIFA it has not learned the lessons of Qatar’s much-criticized preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.
“At every stage of this bidding process, FIFA has shown its commitment to human rights to be a sham,” said Amnesty International’s head of labor rights and sport, Steve Cockburn.
“FIFA’s reckless decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without ensuring adequate human rights protections are in place will put many lives at risk,” Cockburn’s statement issued by 21 bodies read.
Among those who co-signed the statement were Saudi diaspora human rights organizations, migrant workers’ groups from Nepal and Kenya, international trade unions, fans’ representatives, and global human rights organizations.
“Based on clear evidence to date, FIFA knows workers will be exploited and even die without fundamental reforms in Saudi Arabia, and yet has chosen to press ahead regardless,” it added.
“The organization risks bearing a heavy responsibility for many of the human rights abuses that will follow.”
Lina Alhathloul, Head of Monitoring and Advocacy, ALQST for Human Rights, a Saudi diaspora human rights organization, said the awarding of the World Cup to Saudi Arabia was “disheartening.”
“Now it’s happened, urgent and sustained action is needed to mitigate the grave risks of labor and civil rights violations associated with the tournament, including by securing major and credible reforms,” she said in the joint statement.
In a separate statement, the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre said that one stadium under construction for the tournament had been linked to alleged exploitative labor of 10-hour shifts in extreme heat.
“FIFA, its sponsors, and multinational companies likely already eyeing up lucrative infrastructure contracts have a legal and ethical responsibility to respect human rights. Particularly those of the most vulnerable migrant workers…” Phil Bloomer, Executive Director of BHRRC said.
Saudi Arabia denies accusations of human rights abuses and says it protects its national security through its laws.
“In the areas of work as welfare, we’ve launched initiatives where now employees have the freedom of choice to move from one employer to the other,” the head of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup bid unit Hammad Albalawi told Reuters last week.
“Documents of these employees are now uploaded into government systems. Over 660,000 organisations are signed up to that portal which ensures that workers have the right to exercise everything that is within their contracts.”
The kingdom plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on projects related to the World Cup as part of the crown prince’s sweeping Vision 2030 project that aims to modernize Saudi society and economy. At its core is spending on sports by the $900 billion sovereign wealth operation, the Public Investment Fund, which he oversees. Critics have called it “sportswashing” of the kingdom’s reputation.
The prince, known as MBS, has built close working ties to Infantino since 2017 — aligning with the organizer of the sport’s most-watched event rather than directly confronting the established system as it did with the disruptive LIV Golf project.
The result for Saudi Arabia and FIFA has been smooth progress toward the win Wednesday with limited pushback from soccer officials, though some from women international players.
The steady flow of Saudi cash into international soccer is set to increase.
FIFA created a new and higher World Cup sponsor category for state oil firm Aramco, and Saudi funding is set to underwrite the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States which is a pet project for Infantino.
North American soccer body CONCACAF signed a multi-year deal with PIF, Saudi stadiums host Super Cup games for Italy and Spain, and nearly 50 FIFA member federations have signed working agreements with Saudi counterparts.
Lavish spending by PIF-owned Saudi clubs in the past two years buying and paying players – including Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Karim Benzema, and Sadio Mané – put hundreds of millions of dollars into European soccer.
That influence could be key in talks to agree on which months to play the 2034 World Cup. The November-December slot taken by Qatar in 2022 to avoid extreme midsummer heat is complicated in 2034 by the holy month of Ramadan through mid-December and Riyadh hosting the multi-sport Asian Games.
Still, January 2034 could be an option — and likely better for European clubs and leagues —after the International Olympic Committee said it saw few issues in clashing with the Salt Lake Winter Games opening February 10, 2034. The IOC also has a major commercial deal with Saudi Arabia, to host the new Esports Olympics.
