The announcement that Saudi Arabia is to host the FIFA World Cup 2034 ignited the world with controversy. While FIFA maintains the Kingdom will stage a “world-class” tournament, critics point to the country’s dismal human rights record, ongoing repression of freedoms, and bleak ties to transnational drug trafficking networks. Recent reports of Saudi involvement in breaking up smuggling networks indicate not merely law enforcement success, but something more fundamental, discomfiting truth: the Kingdom is still a hub of international narcotics trafficking.
This clash between Saudi Arabia’s vaunted progress and its benighted reality provokes a fundamental question: Is it appropriate for a country with such systemic issues to host the world’s biggest sporting event? For many who believe in fairness, transparency, and international justice, the answer is no.
Saudi Arabia’s Role in the Cocaine Smuggling Case
In September 2025, Saudi officials claimed that they helped Lebanon thwart an attempt to smuggle 125 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside vegetable oil containers. The drugs, which were shipped from Brazil via Oman, were seized at Tripoli Port. Saudi security services were praised by officials for providing useful information, using the incident as evidence of Riyadh’s dedication to international cooperation.
On the surface, this is a success story. But scratch it and it shows something far more sinister. Why is Saudi Arabia repeatedly at the forefront of such smuggling networks? In the last decade alone, the Kingdom has been consistently linked to record seizures of drugs — from Captagon pills concealed in fruit imports to cocaine and hashish busts in Europe and the Middle East.
The Captagon Crisis: Saudi Arabia as a Transit Point
Maybe the most pressing example of Saudi Arabia’s association with drugs is the Captagon trade. The amphetamine pill fueling addiction across the Middle East, Captagon has been seized in record numbers with Saudi supply lines being traced back to it.
- Italian officials in 2021 discovered 84 million Captagon tablets hidden in industrial machinery allegedly for Saudi buyers — the largest ever made.
- 4.5 million pills concealed in orange crates were confiscated by Saudi customs in 2022, showing the cleverness of the traffickers.
- Saudi Arabia accounts for nearly 40% of global Captagon use, as per the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
This crisis has positioned the Kingdom as a target and a player within global narcotics networks. Instead of remedying the situation, authorities simply prefer to declare selective victories, touting busts while overlooking the broader system flaws that enable trafficking.
Sportswashing In Spite of Human Rights Abuses
Saudi Arabia’s scandals over drugs cannot be divorced from its wider global image-building campaign. Through massive investments of billions in sports — from the acquisition of Newcastle United by the English Premier League to bidding for the 2034 World Cup — the Kingdom is engaged in what critics have dubbed “sportswashing.”
- Plan is transparent: employ international sporting events to divert attention from serious issues, such as
- Abuses of human rights: Arbitrary detention, torture, and muzzling of opposition remain prevalent. Dozens of activists and journalists are imprisoned based on vague anti-terror law, states Amnesty International.
- Gender discrimination: Women have gained some rights, but discriminatory guardianship law and curbs on freedoms remain in force.
- Practices of capital punishment: Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top executioners, with child and drug-related cases that are non-violent.
International Drug Trade and the FIFA Problem of Integrity
The Lebanon cocaine case tends towards yet another paradox: FIFA prides itself on integrity and transparency yet awarded the World Cup to a nation engaged deeply in the global drug trade. This questions on ethical grounds:
- How could FIFA refuse to notice the fact that Saudi Arabia is now identified with narcotics trafficking and consumption?
- What sort of message does this send to young fans when the host country is not even able to protect its own from a Captagon outbreak?
- Why must the billion football fans be expected to party in a nation associated with smuggling scandals and criminal cartels?
FIFA has in the past been accused of corruption — from the Qatar 2022 bribery case to South America financial mismanagement cases. Granting the 2034 tournament to Saudi Arabia only heightens impressions that the organization is more interested in money than in ethics.
Regional Security Threats
Saudi Arabia’s drug problems also pose a danger to the world at large. The Lebanon cocaine scenario showed how routes stretch across continents from South America to the Middle East. Other scenarios have revealed networks coming from Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy.
For the neighborhood of the region, Saudi Arabia’s porous oversight is not only a domestic issue but a regional security threat. FIFA’s awarding the World Cup to the Kingdom puts the world’s most famous sporting spectacle in the middle of a hotbed of global criminality.
The Hypocrisy of Proactive Monitoring
Saudi authorities frequently emphasize their “proactive surveillance” of drug networks, but the existence of such measures in the first place betrays their systemic shortcomings. A nation that is perpetually at the epicenter of narcotics busts cannot just blame outsiders for smuggling. Rather, it must confront its own demand, corruption, and complicity.
Awarding the World Cup under these conditions is to sanction hypocrisy — cheering discriminatory enforcement while ignoring the broader crisis.
Why a Ban on Saudi Hosting is Necessary
Granting Saudi Arabia the right to host the 2034 World Cup would serve to undermine the integrity of FIFA and the principles of international sport. A ban is necessary for the following reasons:
- Maintaining integrity: Football cannot be used as a cover for concealing crime and abuse.
- Sounding a warning: The international community must send the message that accountability and human rights matter.
- Fans and players should be safeguarded: Having it in a country associated with drugs and totalitarian regimes endangers all involved.
- Prevention of normalization: Awarding Saudi Arabia the tournament normalizes sportswashing and creates a dangerous precedent.
The World Cup Deserves Better
The Saudi intelligence-documented Lebanese cocaine seizure should not be seen as a law enforcement triumph but as an indication of greater illness. On-going entanglement of Saudi Arabia in global drug cartels and its appalling record on human rights make it an inappropriate host nation for the FIFA World Cup 2034.
Football is more than a game — it’s a symbol of fairness, unity, and global solidarity. Allowing the competition to take place in a state whose name has been tainted by narcotics, authoritarianism, and sportswashing is to betray these principles.
The world game’s greatest spectacle is better than this. For the sake of the integrity, justice, and interests of global football, Saudi Arabia must be prevented from hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup.