Saudi Arabia: Amnesty Intl. report finds "dangerously flawed" human rights strategies for 2030 & 2034 FIFA World Cups; incl. football associations non-responses
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FIFA has long claimed that it includes human rights standards when selecting its World Cup hosts and when delivering its flagship tournaments. Unless FIFA is honest about the scale and severity of the risks ahead, and acts to prevent them, it will be clear that its commitment to human rights is a sham.Andrea Florence, Sports & Rights Alliance Director
In November 2024, Amnesty International and the Sports & Rights Alliance released a report comparing the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cup bidding nations’ human rights assessments and their 'Bid Books' (published in July 2024) with Amnesty Intl. and the Sport & Rights Alliance’s analysis of human rights risks in the upcoming tournaments (published in June 2024). The briefing argues both the 2030 and the 2034 bids have failed to demonstrate how they will address key human rights risks related to the tournaments.
The 2030 Bid Book and human rights assessment was submitted by the bidding nations’ football associations: the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the Portuguese Football Federation, and the Spanish Football Federation. The 2034 Bid Book and human rights assessment was submitted by the Saudi Arabia Football Federation, and was accompanied by an ‘Independent Human Rights Assessment’ produced by AS&H Clifford Chance, which been critiqued by eleven human rights organisations as 'shockingly poor' (read more here).
Amnesty's new briefing argues the 2030 bid omits many human rights risks. It lacks specific details on actions that will be taken, stakeholders consulted in the process, or clear strategies to include government commitments for legal reform or other measures needed to uphold human rights. The briefing also says the 2034 bid is “deeply flawed”, and the accompanying assessment by AS&H Clifford Chance fails to analyse some of the most severe and well-known risks in Saudi Arabia.
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.Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Labour Rights and Sport
FIFA did not respond to an invitation from Amnesty Intl. to confirm on what basis the organisation agreed to limit the scope of Clifford Chance's rights assessment. Elsewhere, in response to the new Amnesty briefing, a FIFA spokesperson told journalists that it is implementing a “thorough bidding processes for the 2030 and 2034 editions of the FIFA World Cup, in line with previous processes for the selection of hosts”.
Amnesty Intl. also reached out to Clifford Chance, who responded by providing a link to its policies on responsible business. Amnesty Intl. also wrote to the Portuguese Football Federation to ask which organisations were consulted for their assessment and bid; it did not respond.
In November, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, and the Spanish Football Federation to respond to Amnesty Intl.'s report. The football federations did not respond.