Norway’s soccer governing body has decided it will not endorse the confirmation of Saudi Arabia as the host for the 2034 World Cup, expressing concerns about FIFA’s insufficient measures to safeguard human rights during the tournament. President Lise Klaveness stated in a message on Tuesday that FIFA’s guidelines pertaining to human rights and due diligence have not been properly implemented, which raises the potential for human rights violations associated with the event.
FIFA’s 211 member federations are set to convene virtually on Wednesday to officially approve Saudi Arabia as the host for the 2034 World Cup, while also awarding the 2030 edition to a collaborative bid from Spain, Portugal, and Morocco that will span three continents. Klaveness noted that the vote merely serves to formalize decisions that have already been made, critiquing FIFA’s choice to forgo a detailed voting process as contrary to the principles of transparent and effective governance.
Last year, FIFA organized a bidding process that limited candidates to just one option each with restricted external scrutiny. This decision has come amid FIFA’s ongoing efforts to deepen its financial and political alliances with Saudi Arabia. The country is engaged in an extensive construction initiative to build stadiums, hotels, and transportation infrastructure for the World Cup, a project expected to rely extensively on migrant labor. This has incited worries about a potential recurrence of the serious challenges and fatalities encountered by workers during Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 World Cup.
While FIFA’s internal assessment of the Saudi bid acknowledged the elevated risk associated with the tournament, it also mentioned “significant opportunities for positive human rights impact,” a claim that activists have criticized as misleading. Furthermore, a human rights report commissioned by FIFA from a legal office with strong ties to the Saudi government has drawn scrutiny, as it limits World Cup organizers to partnering with state-sanctioned local agencies and the UN’s International Labor Organization (ILO). In Geneva, the ILO is currently examining a formal complaint regarding labor abuses in Saudi Arabia submitted by the global union Building and Wood Workers’ International.
Switzerland’s soccer federation has announced that it will support FIFA’s decisions for the 2030 and 2034 tournaments, although it has expressed concerns regarding ambiguities in Saudi Arabia’s strategy for protecting rights and freedoms. Swiss federation president Dominique Blanc emphasized that it is crucial for FIFA and Saudi organizers to work with respected international organizations beyond the ILO to ensure that commitments made toward workers, as well as teams, fans, and media personnel, are honored.
Despite some optimism, the Swiss federation conveyed that it hopes FIFA and Saudi organizers have taken lessons from Qatar’s experiences. Nevertheless, FIFA has faced criticism for neglecting previous recommendations to compensate workers in Qatar and their families, as suggested by a panel of human rights experts last year under pressure from European soccer entities, including Norway.
FIFA held back the panel’s findings for almost an entire year before releasing them on November 30, shortly after revealing a $50 million World Cup legacy fund aimed at charity initiatives linked to UN agencies, which does not directly provide compensation to the workers. Klaveness remarked that the lack of predictable and transparent processes undermines trust in FIFA as the steward of global soccer.
