Hammad Albalawi, leading Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 World Cup, has asserted that every visitor, including individuals who identify as LGBTQ, will be welcomed into the country and their intent to host the 48-team tournament is unrelated to any attempts at ‘sportswashing’ their human rights record.
The FIFA world governing body has restricted the 2034 competition to bids from the Asian and Oceania federations, in light of Morocco, Portugal, and Spain co-hosting the 2030 event, with the 2026 tournament scheduled to be held across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The official appointment of the hosts for the 2034 event is due to be made at the FIFA Congress on December 11th, and in the absence of any competitive expression of interest prior to FIFA’s final submission date last year, Saudi Arabia’s bid is highly likely to be victorious.
However, Amnesty International pointed out in August that Saudi Arabia’s bid fell short of meeting FIFA’s own human rights standards and urged for immediate steps to enhance the nation’s human rights safeguards.
Current status for LGBTQ advocacy groups are non-existent in Saudi Arabia. Amnesty notes that while the state law isn’t formalised, it is widely known that anyone proven to be involved in same-sex relationships could potentially face capital punishment.
Albalawi reassured Sky Sports that LGBTQ fans coming to his country will be acknowledged and honoured. “Saudi Arabia offers hospitality to all visitors from all corners of the world. We respect each guest’s privacy and in the recent past we have received millions,” he said, “Over a hundred sporting events were attended by above three million fans who relished their experience. Our request to the world is to come and understand us by visiting. They will meet friendly Saudis. We anticipate warmly welcoming all our guests.”
In May 2023, Saudi Arabia’s official government website for tourism issued a reminder to LGBT tourists to respect Saudi customs, traditions, and laws, the same way they would in any other country. The statement went on to assure visitors about their privacy rights, affirming that Saudi Arabia, like other nations, doesn’t require travelers to disclose personal details. Saudi has been making notable investments in sports such as soccer, F1, boxing and golf over the past years.
Despite claims made by groups like Amnesty International that the Kingdom is using sports to detract attention from its human rights record, Albalawi, a representative speaking to both local and international media, negated these allegations. Instead, he restated Saudi Arabia’s commitment to the Vision 2030 agenda. According to Albalawi, the investments in sports are geared towards improving the quality of life for Saudi citizens.
Launched in 2016, Vision 2030 kicked off under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Its objective is to lessen Saudi’s reliance on oil by increasing tourism, revitalizing city life through cultural and heritage celebrations, and sport events. Bin Salman defended the country from accusations of sportswashing in a Fox News interview last year, suggesting it would be worthwhile if it contributed to GDP growth.
Amid this, an independent review into the human rights context, developed in collaboration with Saudi and British law firms, AS & H Clifford Chance, has been criticised by Amnesty for overlooking several issues. Amnesty pointed out that the report’s compilation involved only government bodies and lacked consultation with any civil rights organisations.
Amnesty researcher, Dana Ahmed, informed Reuters in June that while the organisation could study migrant workers in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, leading to constructive changes, similar access wasn’t granted in Saudi. In another report by Amnesty, released in June, it was stated that several significant human rights concerns related to hosting the 2030 Fifa World Cup in Saudi remain unaddressed.