Saudi Arabia defends FIFA World Cup 2034 bid, rejects “sportswashing” claims

• Saudi Arabia’s Sports Minister defends the FIFA World Cup 2034 bid.
• Accusations of “sportswashing” were rejected.
• Prince Abdulaziz defends attracting top players.

In a Jeddah interview with the media, Saudi Arabia’s minister of sports, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, defended his nation’s right to host the FIFA World Cup 2034.

Many think that Saudi Arabia has been spending a lot of money on sports in recent years to “sportswash” the Kingdom’s image due to its human rights record, but the Minister clarifies that the goal is to boost the economy in order to encourage tourists.

Since 2021, the Gulf nation has spent more than £5 billion on sports and has played host to some of the largest competitions, including F1, boxing, and most famously, the Saudi Pro League, which drew celebrities like Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Campaigners think that despite Saudi Arabia’s continuous efforts to make the nation more sports-friendly, these efforts are only intended to divert attention from more pressing concerns such as human rights—a practice they refer to as “sportswashing.”

Declaring that a large portion of the population in the nation is under 30, Prince Abdulaziz called the charges “very shallow.”

“Twenty million of our population are below the age of 30, so we need to get them engaged—we are playing our role to develop sports within the world and to be part of the international community,” he stated.

“We’ve showcased that—we’ve hosted more than 85 global events, and we’ve delivered on the highest level. We want to attract the world through sports. Hopefully, by 2034, people will have an extraordinary World Cup,” the Minister responded. “Hopefully, people will have an extraordinary World Cup by 2034.”

Then, Prince Abdulaziz defended his nation’s efforts to attract top players like Ronaldo, claiming that the English Premier League followed suit but that nobody took issue with it.

“I think the Premier League did that, and that’s how they started. So nobody questioned them when they did it,” said Prince Abdulaziz when asked if the spending was a threat to more established European leagues.

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