Saudi Arabia was awarded the 2034 FIFA World Cup hosting rights in December 2024 through an uncontested bidding process, receiving unanimous approval from FIFA’s 203 member associations. This decision aligns with the kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative, where the Public Investment Fund (PIF), valued at over $900 billion, has invested billions in global sports since 2021, including LIV Golf, Newcastle United FC ownership, and Formula 1 events. Human rights groups document this as sportswashing, where sports investments mask ongoing violations like 241 executions in 2024 and labor exploitation affecting 10 million migrant workers.
Defining sportswashing and Saudi investments
Sportswashing refers to the strategic use of sports investments, events, and auspices by governments or realities to enhance their global character and divert attention from domestic issues, including mortal rights violations, political suppression, and governance difficulties. This practice, frequently described as character laundering, gained elevation in analyses of authoritarian administrations using high- profile calisthenics to project fustiness and openness.
Saudi Arabia exemplifies this through Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s diversification plan, which allocates billions from the Public Investment Fund (PIF) valued at over $900 billion to sports amid transnational scrutiny over 241 prosecutions in 2024, migratory worker exploitation, and the 2018 Jamal Khashoggi assassination. From 2021 to 2025, Saudi Arabia invested an estimated $6.3 billion in global sports, acquiring English Premier League club Newcastle United for £305 million in October 2021 via an 80 PIF stake, a move Amnesty International UK labeled a” blatant illustration of Saudi sportswashing.”
The area launched LIV Golf in 2022, offering $2 billion in prizes over its first three seasons and attracting top players like Phil Mickelson with contracts exceeding $200 million, dismembering PGA Tour dominance and drawing allegations of using golf’s glamour to overshadow gender inequality and dissent repression. PIF auspices extended to FIFA’s expanded Club World Cup 2025( with a $1 billion prize pool) and Concacaf Gold Cup, bedding Saudi influence in football governance and furnishing platforms for positive media amid reports of arbitrary detentions.
Financial leverage in securing the bid
The bidding process whisked 2030 and 2034 votes, confining 2034 to Asia/ Oceania and accelerating timelines by three times, inhibiting challengers. Saudi Arabia’s sole shot, submitted October 2024, promised 15 stadiums , 48 new hospices, and Neom expansions, going $17 billion. PIF’s FIFA partnerships assured no rivals surfaced, with Gianni Infantino praising” football development openings.” Critics like HRW argue this bypassed mortal rights due industriousness needed by FIFA’s 2017 policy.
Human rights violations amid preparations
Saudi Arabia’s medications for the 2034 FIFA World Cup coincide with rising human rights violations, including a swell in prosecutions and patient abuses against migratory workers, women activists, and nonages. In 2024, the area carried out a record 345 prosecutions, the loftiest in over three decades rising to at least 241 by August 2025, with Reprieve reporting 22 in one week alone, numerous targeting Shia nonages, foreign citizens, and individualities without fair trials or due process.
Amnesty International proved 180 prosecutions from January to June 2025, including 46 in June alone( 37 for medicine- related offenses), with 75 of similar cases involving vulnerable foreign citizens from countries like Pakistan, Egypt, and Ethiopia. These numbers exceed previous records, contradicting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s 2022 pledges to limit the death penalty except for Sharia- commanded cases.
Migratory workers, numbering over 10 million and essential for World Cup structure like colosseums in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Neom, endure severe exploitation under the kafala system despite nominal 2021 reforms. Human Rights Watch( HRW) reported 31 heat- related deaths in 2024 amid 50 °C temperatures, pay envelope theft, forced labor, and passport confiscation, with no unions permitted. The first verified World Cup- linked casualty passed in March 2025 on a Jeddah point, while FairSquare proved 17 Nepali worker deaths by mid-2025. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre tracks ongoing violations at Neom, including forced evictions of Huwaitat lineage members.
FIFA’s evaluation shortcomings
FIFA’s AS&H Clifford Chance review rated the pitfalls” medium,” banning freedom of expression, arbitrary detention, and LGBTQ persecution( death penalty for same-sex acts). No emigrant consultations passed; ALQST critiqued the Saudi Football Federation’s strategy as” uncritically positive.” attorneys( Pieth, Wehrenberg, Dixon) filed a May 2025 complaint professing FIFA policy breach on five issues: expression, detention, bar, settlers, women. FIFA rejected independent monitoring in January 2025.
Labor exploitation in infrastructure build
Saudi Arabia’s preparations for the 2034 FIFA World Cup demand massive infrastructure expansion, including eight new stadiums, 73 training facilities with accommodations, nearly 500% growth in hotel capacity, airport upgrades, and high-speed rail networks across cities like Riyadh, Jeddah, Al Khobar, Abha, and Neom.
These projects, estimated at $17 billion, rely heavily on over 10 million migrant workers from South Asia and Africa, who face systemic exploitation under the kafala sponsorship system despite 2021 reforms that failed to abolish employer control over passports, exits, or wages. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre documented violations at Neom, including forced evictions of Huwaitat tribe members, and Jeddah Central projects, where workers endure 50°C heat without protections, wage theft, and debt bondage from recruitment fees exceeding $2,000. The kafala system’s persistence enables abuses mirroring Qatar’s 2022 World Cup, where over 6,500 migrant deaths occurred from heat, falls, and cardiac arrests misclassified as “natural causes,” denying families compensation.
In Saudi Arabia, Human Rights Watch interviewed families of 31 deceased Nepali, Bangladeshi, and Indian workers in 2024-2025, revealing uninvestigated fatalities from electrocution, decapitation, and falls such as Muhammad Arshad’s March 2025 plunge from Al Khobar’s Aramco Stadium site, leaving three young sons without support. FairSquare reported 17 Nepali deaths on World Cup-linked sites by May 2025, warning of “thousands of unexplained deaths” without autopsies or remedies. FIFA’s October 2025 agreement with Building and Wood Workers’ International for joint inspections came after these incidents, but critics note no retroactive probes or mandatory life insurance.
Global backlash and boycott momentum
21 organizations’ joint statement called it “great danger,” predicting abuses. Norwegian FA condemned process; UK MPs urged review. “BoycottSaudi2034” campaigns highlight sportswashing. UN’s Volker Türk prioritized rights; US Senators Wyden/Durbin warned of risks. Sponsors (Adidas, Coca-Cola) informed of flaws.