The millions that the Saudis have invested in sports, especially in the last year, are a source of seduction to attract stars worldwide, with a natural emphasis on football. The long list of signings for Saudi clubs in the last transfer market includes names like Karim Benzema, Neymar or the most famous Portuguese on the planet: Cristiano Ronaldo.
The secret – which no one knows – behind this phenomenon lies in the benefits that Saudi Arabia obtains from the sale of oil, since the country is the world’s largest exporter of this mineral.
Many critics have claimed that the regime led by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, responsible for the project, is doing sports wash with such an investment. This means that, through sport, a more positive image of the country is promoted, when behind it an attempt is made to hide more negative aspects such as the systematic disrespect for human rights.
Furthermore, this is a recurring practice in autocratic regimes in the Middle East, and the closest example, in time and geography, is Qatar, the country that hosted the soccer world cup last year.
Independent investigations concluded that there was corruption, with accusations of bribery and vote buying, in the awarding of this World Cup by FIFA. Sepp Blatter, who headed the institution in 2010, when Qatar was chosen, recently admitted that this assignment had been a “mistake.” Without mentioning the scandals, the former person in charge acknowledged guilt, but he did acknowledge the possible celebration of the event in summer, when thermometers reach high values.
Although the World Cup was held in winter, the stadiums were built in intense heat over the past ten years. They were alerted about labor abuses and lack of conditions for the thousands of migrants who worked there, from countries such as India, Pakistan or Nepal. The figures point to more than 6,500 deaths.
Human Rights Watch, an organization that monitors respect for human rights around the world, warned last week that the World Cup, if awarded to Saudi Arabia, could result in a scenario very similar to that in Qatar. The institution, in addition to remembering that the families of the victims in Qatar were never compensated, estimates that 13.4 million immigrants live in Saudi Arabia, who face daily abuse, theft of wages by their employers and the heat .
Protections against high temperatures are inadequate, he adds, and labor laws are so repressive that “leaving a job without permission is a crime, even for those trying to escape abuse.”
The organization concludes, therefore, that like Qatar, the Saudi regime also lacks respect for human rights and accuses the institution that regulates football across the planet of not having learned its lesson.
Miguel Poiares Maduro, who chaired the FIFA Governance Commission between 2016 and 2017, even says that the organization’s statutes are being violated. The former official adds that after the corruption cases when awarding the World Cups to Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, FIFA adopted principles in 2015 that are being forgotten, starting “with the guarantee that human rights will never be compromised.” .
The organization went further and defined that “in countries where there is no positive tradition regarding human rights, their promotion would occur.”
This does not appear to be Saudi Arabia’s ambition, especially given its long history of disrespect for human rights. Human Rights Watch recalls the “mass executions, the repression of women’s rights, the murder of hundreds of migrants on the border with Yemen” that the country has promoted. The organization also adds that there is torture and long prison sentences for critics of the government, “extramarital or homosexual relationships are crimes,” the punishment for which can be death.
But the Saudi regime also persecutes, this organization denounces, those who value respect for human rights: activists are persecuted, which makes safe work difficult. Therefore, it is difficult to carry out “independent monitoring”, an essential requirement, Human Rights Watch highlights, for any country hosting the World Cup.
October 31 was the deadline for submitting applications. Australia withdrew from the race to host the competition, leaving the track open for Saudi Arabia. The FIFA president announced late on Tuesday night that, in addition to the already known locations of the next World Cups, the 2034 World Cup was headed, once again, to the Middle East, something that was already expected given there was a only candidate.
Saudi Arabia had positioned itself to host the World Cup earlier in the month, on October 4, the same day FIFA announced the deadline for submission of applications.
“Saudi Arabia presents its candidacy on the day that FIFA says it opens the deadline and then gives a deadline of 20 days to others. It is obvious that it was impossible to seriously prepare another candidacy in such a short time,” says Miguel Poiares Maduro.
The former FIFA president is not surprised, he says that it is a sign that “the practices of the past” are returning: “FIFA works like a political cartel. Nobody dares to go against the decisions of the Presidency and of “Therefore, very few federations would have the courage to oppose what the Executive Committee decided about Saudi Arabia.”
Miguel Poiares Maduro finds it strange that in such a short time Qatar and Saudi Arabia, countries with the same geography, are hosting two World Cups, remembering that the Saudis will continue to host the Club World Cup this year, next month. “It’s still extraordinary. How can FIFA naturally ignore that this will be viewed critically in many other places around the world?”
For the former minister, the 2015 reforms that FIFA implemented after the corruption scandals, which included, for example, “stricter transparency rules”, came to nothing.
“They were adopted not because those responsible for football really thought that FIFA and the football organization should change, but because they felt that they had to externally convey a semblance of change and reform to avoid the risks of losing sponsorship and a government intervention which was real at that time,” explains Poiares Maduro.
The former president of the FIFA Regulatory Committee affirms that a lot has changed since then: “The pressure from public authorities and companies has been greatly reduced because the reputational cost has gone down again. On the other hand, there has been a change in the main financiers”. of FIFA’s activities, from companies that were in democratic regimes to other parts of the world where these companies and these countries are much less concerned about the issue of human rights.
Saudi Arabia will even host the World Cup as announced by the FIFA president. In addition to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International also warns of the importance of FIFA having the guarantee that workers’ rights and freedom of expression will be guaranteed. The organizations launched the alert before the location of the 2034 World Cup was known, but they have insisted on the call.
Miguel Poiares Maduro anticipates that nothing will change in the selection processes, unless the political power assumes its role and begins to regulate football organizations. “No cartel, whether economic or criminal, is reformed from within,” he adds.
The former official warns of the existence of a conflict of interest in the organizations with FIFA and UEFA: “They are, at the same time, regulators of a market in which they are also economic agents. They define who can access, which clubs can be licensed. , what competitions can be held”
Poiares Maduro says that there is no other area of society in which this happens and affirms that the European Union has enough power to impose rules.
The solution, the former minister anticipates, could be a favorable decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union to the creation of the Super League in Europe. Although he is not in favor of this green light, Poiares Maduro affirms that “the decision could induce the political system and the European legislator to regulate sports organizations. If it has that factor of promoting the regulation of sports missions in this context, then that [regulação da FIFA] You can pass.
Source: TSF
