Saudi Arabia
Global: FIFA sponsorship deal with Saudi Aramco covering World Cups raises human rights concerns
Reacting to FIFA’s four-year global partnership deal with Saudi Aramco, making the state-owned fossil fuel company a sponsor of the 2026 men’s World Cup as well as the Women’s World Cup in 2027, Amnesty International’s Head of Economic and Social Justice Steve Cockburn said: “There is a cruel irony that a Saudi Arabian state-owned company […]
Saudi Arabia Hasn’t Earned Women’s Tennis Championships
Women’s tennis has advocated for women’s rights since before Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in the “battle of the sexes” 50 years ago. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) was a prime mover behind Title IX, the U.S. law that gave millions of women and girls equal opportunities in sport and education. Despite this legacy, […]
Sparking Change at Play the Game 2024: Reflections from the Sport & Rights Alliance
The 13th edition of the Play the Game conference held in Trondheim, Norway, this February, brought together academics, journalists, athletes, human rights defenders and other stakeholders in the sports world to discuss the most pressing issues in international sport. The Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA) participated in the forum with a robust delegation, with representatives […]
Saudi Government Uses European Football to Sportswash its Reputation
Italian, Spanish Super Cups Played in Riyadh to Divert Attention From Abuses Forget Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist brutally murdered in a Saudi consulate, and all his colleagues jailed, censored or harassed in Saudi Arabia; don’t think about women’s and LGBT rights in the kingdom; and ignore the mass killings of migrants along the Saudi border with Yemen. Look, there, Saudi […]
FIFA: No Remedy for Qatar Migrant Worker Abuses
A Year Later, Lack of Action Still Haunts Abused Workers (Beirut) – FIFA and Qatar have failed in the past year to remedy abuses of migrant workers who made the 2022 Qatar World Cup possible, including families of thousands of migrant workers who died of unexplained causes, Human Rights Watch said today. The 2022 World Cup tournament may be […]
Rights At Risk As Saudi Arabia ‘Sole Bidder’ To Host 2034 World Cup
In 2013, then-FIFA secretary general Jérôme Valcke gave a press conference in which he clarified FIFA’s strategy for choosing World Cup hosts: “I will say something which is crazy, but less democracy is sometimes better for organizing a World Cup. …When you have a very strong head of state who can decide, as maybe Putin can do […]
