Global: FIFA should halt process for 2034 World Cup bid and demand credible human rights strategy for 2030

FIFA should halt the process to select Saudi Arabia as the host of the 2034 men’s World Cup unless major human rights reforms are announced before a vote of FIFA members next month, Amnesty International and the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA) said today. The organizations are also calling on FIFA to make the awarding of the 2030 World Cup to Morocco, Portugal and Spain conditional on the development of a far more credible human rights strategy. In a new report, High Stakes Bids: Dangerously Flawed Human Rights Strategies for the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups , Amnesty International and the SRA evaluate the human rights strategies proposed by Morocco, Portugal and Spain for the 2030 tournament and Saudi Arabia for the 2034 event. It concludes that neither bid adequately outlined how they would meet the human rights standards required by FIFA in its bidding regulations, nor consulted meaningfully with human rights organisations, and that the risks in Saudi Arabia are so high that hosting the tournament there would likely lead to severe and widespread rights violations. “There will be a real and predictable human cost to awarding the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia without obtaining credible guarantees of reform. Fans will face discrimination, residents will be forcibly evicted, migrant workers will face exploitation, and many will die. FIFA must halt the process until proper human rights protections are in place to avoid worsening an already dire situation,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Labour Rights and Sport.