Saudi Arabia is the Sole Bidder of the 2034 World Cup: The Politics of FIFA
Saudi Arabia is the likely host of 2034 World Cup, the second Middle Eastern country to possibly step into that role after Qatar. Though the 2034 edition of the beloved international tournament seems distant, over a decade away, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has faced immediate backlash after the revelation.
FIFA’s 2034 bid opened only to Asian and Oceania countries due to regional rotation requirements, where the World Cup cannot be hosted in the same continent more than once every 12 years. Australia had considered competing with Saudi Arabia for the spot, but overwhelming support from other Asian countries deterred Australia from securing a bid. Without a doubt, football enthralls nations and has established itself as a sport for all. FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino have repeatedly emphasised a desire for the World Cup to embody this universality: FIFA is “modernising football to be global, accessible and inclusive in all aspects. Not just on one or two continents, but everywhere.” Thus, their decision to support Saudi Arabia as 2034’s host makes sense. Saudi Arabia has spent the past decade expressing excitement for hosting the World Cup, and even signed agreements with FIFA’s member nations, donating millions of dollars to projects in Asia and Africa. Earlier this month, FIFA announced an abbreviated bidding timeline for the 2034 games, granting countries a mere 25 days to express formal interest and demonstrate government support for hosting. Coincidently, Saudi Arabia met the minimum stadium requirements to bid, and the country quickly seized this opportunity, fully aware of the possible human rights ramifications. World Cup preparations require immense commitment, effort, and financial resources, from the construction of gleaming new hotels to massive stadiums.
Hosting the World Cup, despite human rights scrutiny, would bring several benefits to Saudi Arabia as well. As an oil-rich nation, Saudi Arabia wishes to further establish itself as a global power through its presence in the sporting realm. Visiting fans book flights, hotel stays, transportation, and consume food and alcohol, reaping massive economic boosts. Additionally, the World Cup holds incredible media influence. Broadcasted in relatively every country across the globe, in 2018, 3.572 billion people, almost half of the world, tuned in to watch the World Cup, beating both the Tokyo and Winter Olympics by around a billion people. Beyond obvious pros, a truly ‘global’ game and national benefits for Saudi Arabia, the country’s decision to host the next World Cup is a bold move, especially after the 2022 Qatar World Cup controversies.
To construct the necessary stadiums and hotels, Qatar faced scrutiny for the exploitation of migrant workers through the Kafala System, in which an employer is the ‘sponsor’ of the migrant worker and thus holds power over their immigration status. In the years leading up to the 2022 World Cup, thousands were overworked, abused, and died in work-related incidents. Qatar was too small a country to handle the construction size and needs of the World Cup. Today, Qatar seems glaringly aware of this fact, and after months of construction work, some of the stadiums will be downsized, while others will be demolished.
Both in size and financial power, Saudi Arabia exceeds Qatar, but they do share similar reports of human rights abuses. A New York-based advocacy group, Human Rights Watch, pointed out FIFA hypocrisy in a recent article, claiming that the organization ‘broke [its] own human rights rules’ and noting that ‘under FIFA’s human rights policies, countries bidding to host games must commit to strict human rights and labour standards.’ Saudi Arabia continues to uphold the Kafala System, though exact terms vary between Middle Eastern countries. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are prohibited from unionising and are not required to be paid above minimum (often barely even living) wages. Further, domestic workers are neither protected by labour laws nor permitted to leave the country without an employer’s permission. In 2022, Qatar pushed back the World Cup to the winter after concerns that the spring’s intense heat would negatively impact fans, not considering the conditions its workers toiled in. Saudi Arabian labourers will likely suffer in similar sweltering heat during workdays. Additionally, Saudi Arabia sparks similar controversy to Qatar regarding their openly anti-LGBQT+ stance (being in a same-sex relationship can be met with the death penalty), as LGBQT+ fans feel excluded from another World Cup. A famously ‘traditional’ country, women are subject to the male-guardianship system and sex outside of marriage is punishable by death. To an even greater extent, critics of the Saudi Arabian government suffer several abuses, from house-arrest or imprisonment to flat-out torture. Media is censored at the request of the government, making transparency about human rights issues surrounding construction for the World Cup and eventually during the actual tournament difficult.
Human Rights Watch, among other human rights activists, call for a rebid of the 2034 World Cup, or, at the very least, the upholding of the human rights that FIFA has sworn by: due diligence, bidding to host events, stakeholder consultation, independent human rights monitoring, and remedy. Though its being the second Middle Eastern country to host the World Cup is an accomplishment, it should not occur at the cost of the working population.
Image courtesy of Hossein Zohrevand via Wikimedia, ©2022. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
