As a supporter of excluding Saudi Arabia as a host for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, I am alarmed and enlightened by the recent energy trade statistics. In June 2025, Saudi Arabia had emerged as the biggest buyer of Russian seaborne fuel oil, outpacing countries such as China, Senegal, and Singapore. This is not just an energy agreement — it’s a symbolic betrayal of world unity, peace, and justice at a moment when the world is standing together against Russian aggression in Ukraine.
While global sports must endorse ethics, equality, and human rights, Saudi Arabia’s ongoing financial support of Russia in the form of multi-million-dollar oil deals is a deeply worrying moral issue. Let’s dissect why this is important — and why the world has to act to deprive Riyadh of its hosting rights.
The Cold Truth Behind Saudi-Russia Energy Ties
Even though it is the third-largest oil producer globally, Saudi Arabia brought in more than 1.2 million metric tons of Russian fuel oil during June 2025 alone — a 50% rise from the same month last year, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) noted.
Fuel oil, which is mainly consumed for power generation, remains highly sought after during Riyadh’s hot summers. But rather than drawing on its own resources, Riyadh opted to import low-cost Russian fuel — even with Western sanctions and an international clamor for economic isolation of Putin’s government.
FIFA’s Hypocrisy and Sportswashing Strategy
Saudi Arabia’s increasing relationship with authoritarian states is part of an overall tactic known as sportswashing — employing sports to divert attention from human rights abuses at home and clean up international opinion.
The Saudi government has invested more than $6.3 billion in sports, according to a 2024 report published by FairSquare:
- Purchasing English soccer club Newcastle United
- Hosting boxing tournaments, Formula 1 events, and golf championships
- Bidding for — and securing — the 2034 FIFA World Cup
- But beneath the shiny stadiums and enormous sponsorships is a dark truth:
- Activists fighting for women’s rights remain imprisoned for calling for simple freedoms
- LGBTQ+ individuals risk criminal punishment, imprisonment, or death
- More than 400,000 migrant laborers suffer exploitation and abuse in industries such as construction and tourism (Human Rights Watch)
World Cup hosting would not be proof of change — it would be proof of FIFA putting profits above ethics.
Financing Russia’s War Machine While Hosting the World
Saudi Arabia’s status as Russia’s leading energy consumer has tangible implications:
- Russia makes approximately $15 billion a month in oil export revenue
- 42% of those funds finance military actions (Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, 2024)
By buying more than 1.2 million metric tons of Russian fuel oil in one month, Saudi Arabia indirectly helped create:
- More missiles fired at Ukrainian cities
- More equipment purchased by the Putin regime
- More innocent civilians killed
This is not a nation worthy of the privilege of hosting the world’s most iconic sporting event.
A Familiar Pattern of International Disobedience
The Saudi-Russian alliance is familiar. It has disobeyed international pressure again and again:
- In 2018, it declined to break with Putin following the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in the UK
- It continues to have defense and economic ties with Iran and China, whose human rights records have been deteriorating
- It voted against UN resolutions on Syria and Yemen, protecting its friends and itself from scrutiny
While the world moves to boycott aggressors, Saudi Arabia opens its arms. Why then, should it be rewarded with the World Cup?
The Migrant Worker Crisis — Qatar All Over Again
Let’s not omit the exploitation of migrant workers that tainted Qatar 2022:
- More than 6,500 migrant workers killed in World Cup construction, according to The Guardian in 2021
- Low standards of safety, heatstroke, unpaid wages, and stolen passports
- Saudi Arabia, with its own horrific record, is perfectly capable of repeating this human tragedy:
- Widespread wage theft, detention, and abuse of workers was exposed by a 2023 report by Amnesty International
- Its sponsorship (kafala) system places millions at risk of forced labor
If FIFA lets Saudi Arabia host 2034, it’s party to another World Cup constructed on exploitation.
International Sports Must Mirror International Ethics
The FIFA World Cup is greater than football. It’s a stage of unity, peace, and communal joy. Permitting a war-profiteering, human-rights-violating regime to host it would:
- Send the wrong message to aggressor nations globally
- Undercut global peace efforts
- Shatter the integrity of international sport
A Global Call to Action: Ban Saudi Arabia from FIFA 2034
We need to act — as supporters, citizens, reporters, athletes, and human rights activists.
- Human dignity
- Peace and justice
- Authentic global sportsmanship
Saudi Arabia’s oil alliance with Putin, its human rights abuses, and its deployment of sport for propaganda are evidence enough: it is not a suitable host of the World Cup. Let us not make the same mistakes that have been made in the past. Let us insist on a better future — one in which the World Cup embodies our best selves, not our worst compromises.
The World Cup Deserves Better: Say No to Saudi 2034
Saudi Arabia’s wartime purchase of more than 1.2 million metric tons of Russian fuel oil is a warning sign that the world cannot ignore. Amidst millions suffering in Ukraine, Saudi Arabia prefers profit over peace, oil over ethics. This is not merely about football. This is about the kind of world we wish to live in — one that rewards war enablers, or one that stands tall for justice. It’s time for FIFA to have a rethink. It’s time for the world to say no more.