Next winter tournament?

Saudi Arabia wants the World Cup - despite the devastating human rights situation

Created: 09/10/2022 05:54

By: Antonio Jose Riether

Applications for the 2030 World Cup are already underway.

Saudi Arabia probably wants to host the tournament - together with an African and a European country.

Zurich - The World Cup in Qatar starts in just over two months.

There has been a lot of criticism since the controversial awarding of the tournament, in which votes were demonstrably bought.

Both in the exploitation of guest workers, of whom reports say more than 6,500 died on the World Cup construction sites, and in the human rights situation.

Now another much-criticized state has confirmed its interest in the 2030 World Cup. According to information from the

, Saudi Arabia is planning the candidacy.

However, this should be done together with two other states.

Hosting the 2030 World Cup: Intercontinental three-way bid for Saudi Arabia

According to an Egyptian sports ministry official, Saudi Arabia is planning a joint three-continent bid with Egypt and Greece for the World Cup in eight years.

Again the tournament would have to be postponed to winter to avoid the extreme heat in the Middle East.

The oligarchic state of Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as a “theocracy”, has intervened massively in global sport in recent years.

The country is investing horrendous sums in boxing, golf and Formula 1. Most recently, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund invested in the English first division club Newcastle United, and now the next big project is to be landed with the FIFA World Cup.

Saudi Arabia also indicated its willingness to provide financial support for the two rivals' World Cup-related infrastructure projects.

According to reports, Egypt and Greece will act as junior partners.

Saudi Arabia continues “sportswashing”: After the Premier League club, the crown prince wants the World Cup

The World Cup bid fits the allegations of "sportswashing", i.e. covering up abuses and at the same time improving one's own reputation by hosting sports events.

Qatar is also known for this strategy, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman apparently wants to take a similar path to improve its image.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in 2018. © Alexei Druzhinin/imago

Should Saudi Arabia turn out to be a serious candidate, FIFA would probably have to face massive criticism - as it did at the Qatar World Cup.

Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy and bases its legal system on Sharia, i.e. Islamic law.

This means that members of the opposition can be imprisoned without charge, the death penalty is still practiced, and 81 people were executed in one day in March.

Confessions extracted under torture are also permitted here, as

writes.

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Saudi Arabia wants the 2030 World Cup: women's rights in the country severely restricted

Added to this is the severely restricted freedom of expression and assembly in the country, the Internet is subject to state control, and the government is also accused of lack of transparency and corruption.

Rights of women and children as well as people without citizenship are also very limited, for example women are under a male guardian without whose permission they are not allowed to travel, hold a passport or undergo some medical treatments.

Women were only allowed to drive in 2018.

Similar to Qatar, the exploitation of foreign guest workers is the order of the day in Saudi Arabia,

reports of 9 million such workers in the low-wage sector.

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Strong competitors: South American four-man candidacy and Iberian double candidacy

In order to actually get the World Cup, however, the expedient trio of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Greece would have to assert themselves against strong competitors.

Uruguay would like to secure the first World Cup in 100 years, the two-time world champion already held the first World Cup in 1930 and applied for the tournament together with Argentina, Chile and Paraguay.

Spain and Portugal have also made their co-candidates public.

The USA secured the contract for the 2026 World Cup together with the co-hosts Canada and Mexico.

(ajr)