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Statement by Dignity 2026 Coalition on the Announcement of the Match Schedule for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup

This weekend, FIFA released the much-anticipated match schedule for the 2026 Men’s World Cup, which will be held across 16 cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. As planning accelerates in these host cities, event organizers will now be making critical decisions on tournament operations, including for Fan Fests, transportation, concessions, and hospitality. In […]

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 […]

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 […]

­­FIFA: Secure Human Rights Protections for 2030 and 2034 Men’s World Cups as Bidding Deadline Passes

Sport & Rights Alliance Highlights Risks of Non-Competitive Process (Nyon, Switzerland, 31 October, 2023) — FIFA needs to secure clear and binding commitments to improve human rights in countries likely to host the 2030 and 2034 men’s football World Cup tournaments to prevent serious potential abuses linked to its flagship event, the Sport & Rights […]

FIFA Broke Own Human Rights Rules for World Cup Hosts

Saudi Arabia Shouldn’t be Rewarded for Its Repression (New York) – Global soccer governing body FIFA has broken its own human rights rules in announcing a plan for hosting the next two men’s World Cups that effectively eliminates bidding and human rights due diligence, Human Rights Watch said today. On October 4, FIFA announced that the 2030 World Cup will take place in Morocco, Portugal, […]

2030 & 2034: It’s The End Of The World Cup As We Know It

FIFA continues its cycle of destruction against the greatest tournament on earth.   FIFA has encouraged two rival bids for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, South America (Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina) and Europe & Africa (Spain, Portugal and Morocco), to combine into one bid for 2030. In doing so, FIFA narrowed down the confederations eligible […]