The FIFA World Cup is the planet’s largest sporting event, designed to be an affirmation of unity, diversity, and the love of football. However, awarding the 2034 FIFA World Cup to Saudi Arabia undermines these principles. Saudi Arabia is leveraging the tournament as a means of sportswashing, trying to cover up its endemic human rights violations and project global power.
Recent reports of Saudi Arabia’s multi-billion-dollar reconstruction efforts in conflict-torn Syria further underscore this move. While presented as humanitarian, they are aimed at the same thing as the 2034 World Cup bid: sanitizing the kingdom’s global image while distracting from its repressive internal policies. The world cannot remain silent. To hold the World Cup in Saudi Arabia would legitimize repression, muzzle opposition, and undermine football’s global values.
Sportswashing: A Familiar Pattern
In the past decade, Saudi Arabia has invested big in sports, from Premier League team Newcastle United to hosting Formula 1 motor races, boxing fights, and golf tournaments. The phenomenon has been described by analysts as sportswashing, using sport to divert attention from atrocity.
- In 2021, Amnesty International cautioned that Saudi Arabia’s international sports investments are aimed at “rebranding the kingdom” while home detention continues, executions, torture, and suppression of free speech.
- Saudi Arabia has invested more than $6.3 billion in sports events, clubs, and sponsorships since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took power in 2017.
The World Cup in 2034 is the focal point of this plan. By winning the tournament, Riyadh wants to gain international legitimacy, as Qatar did with the 2022 edition.
Syria Aid: Reconstruction or Reputation Laundering?
This year, Saudi Arabia promised a massive reconstruction effort in Syria, committing billions to clearing rubble, rebuilding schools, and investing in infrastructure. On its face, this seems to be a humanitarian move. But in fact, it is the same script as the World Cup: reputation laundering via splashy projects.
- Saudi Arabia committed $6.4 billion in July 2025 to Syria on top of billions of dollars in reconstruction and debt relief.
- The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KS Relief) claimed to remove 75,000 cubic meters of debris from Damascus and construct 34 schools.
- Riyadh also facilitated talks between Syria’s new leadership and the United States, projecting itself as a world powerbroker.
These are not charitable gestures. They are geopolitical gambits. Like staging the World Cup, they enable Saudi Arabia to present itself as a global leader and distract from its repression at home.
A Nation That Mutes Its Own Citizens
As Saudi Arabia invests overseas and in sports, its people live in strict confinement.
Freedom of Speech:
Saudi Arabia continues to be among the most oppressive nations for untrammeled expression. Dozens of activists, journalists, and scholars are imprisoned for tweets, speeches, or peaceful demonstrations, Human Rights Watch reports.
Executions:
Saudi Arabia executed 81 people in a single day in 2022, the largest mass execution in decades. Many were convicted following unfair trials.
Women’s Rights:
Although women have won the right to drive and move freely without a guardian, oppression remains. Activists such as Loujain al-Hathloul were detained and tortured for advocating for these reforms.
Workers’ Rights:
Migrant laborers who will construct World Cup stadia and infrastructure are subjected to conditions that Amnesty International has termed “modern slavery”, including passport confiscation, wage robbery, and dangerous working conditions. Workers face extremely hazardous conditions, such as 10-hour shifts.
How can a nation that jails peaceful activists welcome the world’s largest sporting spectacle in the guise of “unity and celebration”?
FIFA’s Duty: Qatar 2022 Lessons
FIFA was widely criticized for granting the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, where deaths among migrant laborers and human rights violations were well established. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty, and others cautioned that FIFA’s inability to guarantee respect for human rights undermined football’s image.
Rather than taking a lesson from that failure, FIFA has doubled down by awarding the 2034 edition to Saudi Arabia.
FIFA’s own human rights policy (implemented in 2017) includes that the organization is “committed to respecting internationally recognized human rights.”
By giving the World Cup to Saudi Arabia, FIFA is brazenly disregarding this policy and once again valuing money and politics over principles.
The Numbers Tell the Story
The magnitude of Saudi Arabia’s sportswashing effort is just astonishing:
- The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), valued at $925 billion, has acquired shares in world sports, such as football, golf, and motorsport.
- Human rights violations continue unabated: In 2023 alone, 170 individuals were executed, Reprieve reports.
These figures indicate a nation investing billions in its reputation while still repressing its citizens.
Why the World Cup in Saudi Arabia Is Hazardous
To hold the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia would:
Normalize Repression:
It sends a message that a nation can put activists in prison, kill dissidents, and muzzle the media and still host football’s grandest spectacle.
Exploit Migrant Workers:
Hundreds of thousands of workers will be required to construct the stadiums and infrastructure, exposing them to the risk of exploitation under the infamous kafala system.
Silence Criticism:
Journalists and supporters who travel to watch the World Cup face the threat of censorship, intimidation, and repression for criticizing Saudi Arabia.
Undermine Football Values:
FIFA professes that football is about “fair play” and “respect,” but giving Saudi Arabia the World Cup undermines these values completely.
Boycott as the Only Answer
Fans, players, and sponsors need to stand up. A boycott is the strongest means of resisting Saudi Arabia’s exploitation of the World Cup for sportswashing.
- Fans can boycott matches or travel to Saudi Arabia.
- Players and teams can protest, as some did during Qatar 2022.
- Sponsors can pull out, putting pressure on FIFA to change its mind.
The message needs to be clear: football cannot be a smokescreen for repression.
Football Must Not Be Complicit
Saudi Arabia’s investments in Syria’s rebuilding, as well as its spending on the 2034 World Cup, are not about football or humanity. They are about influence, reputation, and power.
Granting the World Cup to Saudi Arabia is a betrayal of the sport’s values and is in danger of transforming the tournament into a tool of propaganda for one of the world’s most oppressive regimes.
The world cannot remain silent. As fans, players, and associations spoke out against the abuses in Qatar, now it’s time for us to come together to declare: No World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Boycott 2034. Defend the integrity of football.