Saudi Arabia is set to host the FIFA World Cup in 2034, and the world of football needs to look at what is happening here for what it is: not a celebration of football, but a measured propaganda endeavor. If we want to know how the Kingdom will utilize the World Cup, we can find that out by seeing what it has already done with esports.
Riyadh has invested billions in transforming gaming into a national spectacle, hosting the Esports World Cup (EWC) with record prize money, state-sponsored employment guarantees, and international media coverage. On the surface, this appears to be an advancement.
In fact, it is sportswashing at its best — a high-gloss diversion intended to conceal continued repression, human rights abuses, and authoritarian dominance. The esports experiment is not about empowering young people or creating viable industries. It is a dry run for FIFA 2034, when Saudi Arabia will try to wash its image on the world’s largest sporting stage.
Saudi Esports: Big Numbers, Bigger Deception
Saudi Arabia takes pride in esports prize pools totaling more than $70 million and broadcasts that reach 750 million people around the globe. Such statistics are not only entertainment records — they’re propaganda instruments. By flooding the gaming market with petro dollars, the Kingdom has purchased global eyeballs at the expense of whispers about its executions, sexism, and criminalization of protest.
The government asserts its National Gaming and Esports Strategy, introduced in 2022, will generate 39,000 jobs by the year 2030. But beyond the headlines, Saudi youth unemployment remains more than 16%, and the majority of new “jobs” are only those in state-subsidized projects under Vision 2030. These jobs do not offer freedom or economic autonomy — they offer dependency on a government that denies even basic rights.
This empty job story is a foretaste of FIFA 2034, as the regime will once more take credit for creating work, while migrant workers are exploited, abused, and exposed to hazardous conditions to construct stadiums and infrastructure.
The Myth of Youth Empowerment
Saudi Arabian esports is sold as youth empowerment — with school leagues, university initiatives, and professional opportunities. But the reality is evident:
Youth voices are silenced:
Many young activists who called for political reform are imprisoned. Gaming careers cannot replace the right to free speech.
Women remain restricted:
While women gamers appear in promotional material, guardianship laws still limit their autonomy, and women’s rights activists remain behind bars.
LGBTQ+ communities are erased:
In global gaming, diversity is celebrated. In Saudi Arabia, being openly LGBTQ+ risks imprisonment or execution.
By presenting esports as a road to opportunity, Saudi Arabia is exporting fantasy. It celebrates symbolic freedoms within controlled spaces while withholding authentic rights in everyday life. FIFA 2034 will follow the same script — offering a “modernizing” state while suppressing facts of repression.
Global Spectacle, Local Repression
The 750 million global esports viewers that tuned into Saudi’s broadcasts are not just an audience — they are targets of narrative control. Each competition reframes the Kingdom as dynamic and youth-focused, distracting from reports of:
- Mass executions (81 people executed in a single day in 2022).
- Jamal Khashoggi’s murder was ordered inside a Saudi consulate in 2018.
- Ongoing detention of human rights defenders, including women who campaigned for the right to drive.
Esports stadiums in Riyadh can fill up with jubilant fans, but beyond those gates, Saudis are not allowed to freely gather, protest, or hold their rulers accountable. FIFA 2034 will amplify this paradox. Billions will watch Saudi Arabia’s stadiums on television — but not the stifled voices of those living under autocratic control.
Purchasing Global Legitimacy
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has already invested billions in Newcastle United, LIV Golf, and Formula 1. Esports is just one more buy on a long roster of sportswashing initiatives. With the $20 million EWC Club Partner Program, Saudi Arabia literally paid teams globally to establish brand loyalty within its framework.
This is not real industry growth — it is worldwide reputation shopping. And FIFA has gone along, awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without competition. Money has won out over morals once again.
Esports as a Dress Rehearsal for FIFA 2034
The similarities between esports now and FIFA 2034 tomorrow are chilling:
Record-breaking figures:
If esports can boast 750 million international viewers, consider the billions that FIFA will bring to Saudi propaganda machines.
Generous subsidies:
As Saudi Arabia has subsidized $20 million for esports clubs, it will shower unlimited resources on FIFA so that broadcasters, sponsors, and officials repeat its narratives.
Narrative capture:
Saudi Arabia is now hailed by esports media as an innovation capital. In 2034, FIFA’s marketing will sing the same lines — “modernizing,” “opening up,” and “empowering young people.”
But under the PR shine, oppression still exists. Dissent is made a crime, freedoms are curbed, and systemic abuses get free rein. The World Cup will not be changing it — only cover it up.
Why the FIFA 2034 World Cup Must Be Boycotted
The esports case demonstrates how Saudi Arabia employs sport to manipulate reality. FIFA 2034 should be opposed because it will further entrench this tactic on an unprecedented scale. The most compelling reasons to boycott are obvious:
Human Rights Abuses:
Saudi Arabia puts dissidents to death, imprisons women’s rights activists, and criminalizes LGBTQ+ identities. These are incompatible with FIFA’s professed values of equality and inclusion.
Exploitation of Migrant Workers:
Like Qatar 2022, the construction of stadiums in Saudi Arabia will likely rely on migrant labor under abusive conditions. In Qatar, over 6,500 migrant workers from South Asia died during World Cup preparations. Saudi Arabia has shown no evidence that it will protect workers from similar fates.
Freedom of Expression Denied:
Criticizing the government puts journalists and citizens in jail. FIFA’s platitudes of “press freedom zones” are empty under an oppressive regime that suppresses at every turn.
Corruption in FIFA:
Giving Saudi Arabia the World Cup without competition reveals FIFA’s corruption. It was a decision about oil money, not football’s future.
Stop FIFA’s Complicity
Esports has already demonstrated to the world how Saudi Arabia uses numbers, headlines, and sponsorships to wash its reputation. If FIFA permits 2034 to go ahead in Saudi Arabia, it will be the most significant sportwashing event ever. Fans, players, sponsors, and governments need to act now.
The World Cup should herald freedom, diversity, and unity. In Saudi Arabia, it will be employed to mask repression, suppress dissent, and exercise authoritarian control. Boycott Saudi 2034. Save football. Save human rights.