Saudi Arabia brings out the worst in the world of international sports in terms of politics and greed.
FIFA’s awarding Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup hosting rights is just the tip of the iceberg.
The awarding violated the world soccer body’s human rights policy and mocked the sports world’s fiction that sports and politics are separate rather than Siamese twins joined at the hip.
The Olympic Council of Asia’s earlier awarding of the 2029 Asian Winter Games to Saudi Arabia, even though the kingdom lacks a qualifying winter season and intends to hold the tournament in a troubled mega science fiction project that is under construction, is another example of politics and money trumping sports.
Contradicting international sports associations’ lofty statements, such as FIFA’s declared commitment to “respecting all internationally recognised human rights” and “integrating human rights requirements into bidding processes for competition,” the awardings reflect a wider world characterised by double standards, hypocrisy, and prejudice.
The associations, including FIFA, argue that tournaments like the World Cup create an opportunity to foster positive change, including improving the kingdom’s abysmal human rights record.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation’s World Cup bid document made short shrift of that argument even before the tournament was awarded last December.
Speaking to Fox News in September 2023 on the back of the kingdom’s winning bids for multiple Asian and other tournaments, including the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup, the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, the 2034 Asian Games, the 2027 AFC Cup, and the 2029 Winter Games, Mr. Bin Salman dismissed criticism and allegations that he was engaging in sportswashing, the use of sports events to polish reputations tarnished by human rights abuse.
“If sport washing is going to increase my GDP by way of 1 per........