...Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the 2034 FIFA men’s World Cup fails on many counts to meet the sporting body’s human rights requirements, and must be rejected if not beefed up with binding agreements to prevent rights violations. Serious shortcomings in the Saudi proposals leave the field open to direct risk of violations of labour and basic civil rights, as well as the broader risk of legitimising the Saudi authorities’ repressive rule.

Detailed research conducted by ALQST in the run-up to the bidding process revealed abuses already taking place in two of the main tournament venues, Neom and Jeddah Central, and our ongoing monitoring of violations in the country provides further damning evidence that the Saudi kingdom is not fit to host this globally significant event.

FIFA is due to take a final decision on awarding hosting rights on 11 December 2024, with Saudi Arabia the sole bidder for the 2034 tournament. Ahead of the vote, on 29 November, FIFA published its own evaluation of the bid. Mirroring the same fundamental flaws found in the bid itself, the FIFA report substantially minimises the potential human rights risks associated with the tournament, giving Saudi Arabia a “medium” human rights risk rating overall and determining that the bid “qualifies” for consideration, effectively nodding it through unchallenged....