FIFA has yet again disregarded Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record

Reacting to FIFA’s decision today to award the hosting of the Club World Cup football tournament in December 2023 to Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice Steve Cockburn said:

“FIFA has yet again disregarded Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record. Hard on the heels of awarding the Visit Saudi tourism site as a sponsor of the Women’s World Cup, it has announced the Kingdom as host of the Club World Cup without any consideration of freedom of expression, discrimination or workers’ rights. FIFA is once again discarding its own human rights policy and is complicit in blatant sports washing.”  

FIFA has yet again disregarded Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record…and is complicit in blatant sports washing.

Stephen Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice

“In recent months, Saudi Arabian authorities have escalated their brutal crackdown on freedom of expression, sentencing individuals to prison terms of between 10 to 45 years simply for their peaceful expression online. The authorities also continue to execute people for a wide range of crimes. On a single day last year, 81 people were put to death, many of whom were tried in grossly unfair trials.”

FIFA announced that it had made US$7.5 billion in revenues over 2019-2022, and expects to make US$11 billion over the next four years, and yet has still not agreed a compensation fund for migrant workers in Qatar.