FIFA’s Saudi Arabia evaluation ‘an astonishing whitewash’ – Amnesty
By Jamie Gardner, PA Chief Sports Reporter
FIFA has been accused of an “astonishing whitewash” over Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup bid.
The Middle East kingdom was given a record score in a FIFA evaluation report published late on Friday, paving the way for its hosting of the finals in 12 years’ time to be rubberstamped at FIFA Congress on December 11, where it is the sole bidder.
The Saudi bid was deemed medium risk on human rights criteria, despite warnings from Amnesty International that migrant workers will die in preparing the country to host the tournament without huge reform.
It was also deemed low risk on sustainability and environmental protection.
The record score was also awarded despite no clarity on when the tournament could be played, with the report highlighting daytime temperatures in the capital Riyadh being in excess of 40 degrees Celsius in the traditional World Cup months of June and July.
“FIFA’s evaluation of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup is an astonishing whitewash of the country’s atrocious human rights record,” Amnesty’s head of labour rights and sport Steve Cockburn said.
“The sports body has decided to ignore the clear evidence of worker exploitation, legalised discrimination and severe repression, and press ahead with a predetermined decision.
“At every stage of the process, FIFA has ensured that nothing would stand in the way of Saudi Arabia hosting the 2034 World Cup and it has effectively discarded its human rights policies to achieve this end.
“Unless huge human rights reforms are introduced, people will be exploited, evicted from their homes and even die as a result.”
A separate report concerning the plight of migrant workers at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was also finally published late on Friday – 11 months after it was completed.
It found FIFA and other organisations – including the Qatari state – had a “shared responsibility” to compensate labourers and the families of those who had died in construction projects in the country.
Earlier this week, Amnesty said it was “shameful” that a 50 million US dollar 2022 World Cup legacy fund would not directly compensate migrant workers.
Saudi’s medium risk score on human rights in the 2034 evaluation report came despite the country’s criminalisation of same-sex relationships and freedom of expression.
The report acknowledges the “significant effort and time” needed to implement reforms but added: “There is a good potential that the tournament could serve as a catalyst for some of the ongoing and future reforms and contribute to positive human rights outcomes for people in Saudi Arabia and the region that go beyond the scope of the tournament itself.”
It added: “Addressing potential gaps with respect to freedom of expression would likely take significant effort and time.
“However, the event-time measures to guarantee these rights provide a basis for implementation by 2034.”
The report acknowledges the “complexities” around event timing, and raises the very real prospect of another winter World Cup requiring leagues operating on an August to May pattern to take a mid-season break.
Whether domestic leagues, already involved in legal action against FIFA over its fixture calendar, would accommodate that remains to be seen.
On the environment, a low-risk score was awarded despite the report highlighting the “material” impact of the extent of construction required to get Saudi Arabia ready. It said the bid “provides a good foundation for delivering mitigation measures to address some of the environment-related challenges”.
Earlier this year FIFA agreed a four-year sponsorship deal with Saudi oil and gas company Aramco worth a reported 400 million US dollars (£314million).
The Saudi state directly or indirectly owns almost 98 per cent of the shares in Aramco, which environmental organisation Client Earth has identified as the biggest corporate greenhouse gas emitter in the world.