Rights Groups Rise Up Against Saudi Attempts to Host the 2030 World Cup

2 years ago

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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman seeks to accelerate the pace of projects within the framework of Vision 2030, which was announced earlier to benefit from his country's participation in bids to host the FIFA World Cup and the Asian Games in the same year, which brings him a lot of promotion at the global level.

Recently, the issue of organizing the 2030 World Cup has moved from a mere thesis to a practical reality based on many premises, the most important of which is coordination with Egypt and Greece as partners in the pivotal event.

Earlier, the British newspaper, The Times, revealed that Saudi Arabia is preparing to announce a joint bid with Egypt and Greece to host the 2030 World Cup.

This was confirmed by the official spokesman for the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mohamed Fawzy, at a later time, saying that his country is studying with the same two countries the candidacy of a joint file to organize the World Cup.

Bin Salman went even further when he began to actually use international companies to plan the event and seek to achieve it, but with that, many obstacles also began to appear that the kingdom and its allies faced in Cairo and Athens.

Human rights organizations have criticized the possibility of this organization taking place, given the humanitarian abuses that these regimes are implicated in, which are difficult to bypass, just for hosting the 2030 World Cup.

 

Triple Hosting

On September 9, 2022, The Times reported that meetings were held between officials from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece to submit a joint candidacy file to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

"The representatives of the three countries have held several meetings over the past months to strengthen relations and reach a joint hosting project that surprises and convinces the International Football Association (FIFA)," the newspaper stated.

"They have already presented the idea to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who always welcomes receiving the largest possible number of requests to host the World Cup," it said.

The newspaper claimed that if the file wins the honor of organizing the tournament, it is expected that it will be held in the winter to avoid extreme temperatures because it is usual for the World Cup to be held in the summer season during the months of June and July.

It also indicated that if this file is accepted, it will be the first time that the World Cup finals will be held on 3 different continents at the same time, namely Africa, Asia, and Europe.

 

Promotion and Consultation

On August 29, 2022, the French Intelligence Online magazine revealed that Saudi Arabia had used the French Boston Consulting Group to promote the kingdom's hosting of the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

It said, "The Boston Consulting Group won a new contract to promote Saudi Arabia's hosting of the 2030 World Cup, and the contract will be managed by the former French diplomat, French consultant Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, who has extensive and distinguished relations in Riyadh."

"According to our information, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, foreign affairs advisor to former French President Jacques Chirac from 2002 to 2007 and Secretary-General of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2017 and 2019, joined in July 2022 the Paris Consulting Office in the Boston Consulting Group," the French magazine stated.

"As a member of the office's management team, which has been headed by Charlene Guillaume since October 2018, he will be entrusted with the task of overseeing the promotion of Saudi Arabia's hosting of the 2030 FIFA World Cup," it confirmed.

Intelligence Online revealed that Montagne had left his position as chair of the ethics committee at Avisa Partners, but he is still working as a consultant at the company to help support Saudi Arabia's bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

"He is assisted in this by communications expert Gerard Askinazi, a member of the Avisa Partners Strategy Committee, who manages the global marketing projects of the Euro RSCG agency, and Askinazi is responsible for organizing the agency's events," according to the magazine.

It highlighted that Montagne, who previously served as the French ambassador in Tokyo, London, Berlin, and Beijing, will host a committee of Saudi personalities responsible for the major Vision 2030 projects."

Saudi Arabia competes in this field with both South Korea and Italy, after Russia and Ukraine are out of the competition.

 

Human Rights Denunciations

Despite the steps the kingdom has taken aggressively toward Mohammed bin Salman's dream of organizing the 2030 World Cup as a historical event, it will be the best promoter of his rule.

However, there are many obstacles in his path; on September 11, 2022, Amnesty International considered that organizing the 2030 FIFA World Cup in countries including Saudi Arabia would be impossible.

"If FIFA applies its human rights standards correctly, regarding the review of any offer submitted by the Kingdom, it will inevitably be rejected," it added.

"FIFA should strictly apply human rights standards when evaluating any potential bid related to Saudi Arabia in order to avoid the mistake made by its Executive Committee by awarding the 2018 finals to Russia, which is known for its abuses of human rights and freedoms," it stressed.

On September 9, 2022, the British news agency BA Media reported the warnings of Felix Jakens, director of campaigns and individuals at risk at UK Amnesty International, that "the Kingdom is seeking to host the 2030 World Cup, as a kind of culmination of its reputation laundering through sports."

This is at the same time that human rights are deteriorating alarmingly under the rule of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

 

Sportswashing

Sports critic Ahmed Ammar said in his speech to Al-Estiklal that "the use of sport in the process of washing the reputation of tyrannical regimes and dictatorial rulers is not new, and this process has always taken place in previous eras."

"Who can forget the 1978 World Cup organized by Argentina during the era of its tyrant Jorge Videla, the general who carried out a military coup and put his opponents in harsh prisons, and within meters of those prisons, he built giant football stadiums in which most of the world's stars were hosted," he added.

"The cheers of the audience resounded while the cries of the victims filled the cells, an event that was criticized by the international press and the media for playing football on the bodies of the oppressed; despite this, we do not forget that this event was a direct cause after that to bring down his rule," Mr. Ammar stated.

"In the modern era, it is difficult to accept similar operations. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are involved in severe human rights violations, which cannot be accepted," he noted.

"The developed world cannot play and promote regimes that imprison thousands of innocent people. Here, football was not created and did not exist for such a purpose," as Mr. Ammar said.

The sports critic stated that "the modern football industry has become different from the past, and to organize an event like the World Cup, these countries must not only have super infrastructure, including stadiums, public facilities, transportation, hotels, security, and safety, with all this, they must have a sound, qualified, and integrated political and social system."

"This is what a country like Qatar has succeeded in achieving. It has been able to work for years to achieve a comprehensive environment that would allow it to host the most expensive World Cup in history," Mr. Ammar added.

"However, it enjoys one of the best human societies in the world, where millions of people of different nationalities live in safety, security, and peace," he said.

"It is impossible for FIFA to grant Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Greece the organization of the 2030 World Cup. This is completely unlikely," Mr. Ammar said.

"I think that the triple declaration aims to promote the regimes and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, regardless of the possibility of acceptance or rejection. Perhaps they know this clearly, but they are taking the path to the end," he continued.