Ten days after 106 footballers of 24 different nationalities sent a letter to the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, in which they asked him to break the sponsorship contract with Aramco, the state oil company of Saudi Arabia, the players have been left alone in his new attempt to divert money from his sport from the Arab country, an autocratic regime that “criminalizes LGTBIQ+ people and systematically oppresses women,” according to the text, published by this newspaper on Monday of last week. Although the letter already has 131 signatures after the support of another 25 professionals, among whom are some of the best on the planet – such as Bayern’s Danish forward Pernille Harder and her partner, Swedish defender Magdalena Eriksson, two women who have been fighting since years ago for the rights of the gay community in football—the rest of the sports world has remained silent after the body argued that the agreement with the largest energy company, also noted for its contribution to climate change, helps with their tickets to the development of women’s football.
Sofie Junge Pedersen, a player for Inter Milan and the Danish national team – 88 caps – believes that it is not about what the money is used for, but where it comes from. “That’s what they haven’t responded to, they’ve dodged the issue. The sponsorship does not align with the defense of human rights and sustainability that FIFA says it defends,” the midfielder, one of the promoters of the letter, to which the players of the team have also adhered, criticizes in conversation with this newspaper. Barcelona Marta Torrejón —90 caps for Spain— and Fridolina Rolfö —91 for Sweden.
The institution led by Infantino, whose statutes state that it is “committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights and to strive to promote their protection,” also claimed that it is an “inclusive” organization and that it is not the only one to receive money. of Saudi Arabia, as it happens in other sports – motorcycling, golf, tennis, Formula 1, etc. – and industries that maintain economic ties with the Persian Gulf country, an absolute monarchy that violates human rights, muzzles dissent and in which the king controls the legislative, executive and judicial powers.
With the contract signed in April, Aramco, the fourth largest company on the planet, became a “main partner” of FIFA until the end of 2027 along with brands such as Coca Cola, Adidas, Visa, Qatar Airways or Hyundai-Kia at a rate of 90 million euros annually, as published The Times —The body that governs world football does not reveal the amount it receives from the oil company. With the agreement, the Saudi company secured sponsorship of the 2026 men’s World Cup and the 2027 women’s World Cup, “a punch in the stomach of women’s soccer,” according to the letter, signed by Jessie Fleming, captain of the Canadian team, or Becky Sauerbrunn, former captain of the American team, winner of two World Cups (2015 and 2019), one Olympic Games (London 2012) and player for the Portland Thorns.
This is not the first time that women’s football, a sport in which many professionals are part of the LGTBIQ+ community, tries to twist FIFA’s arm for the money of Saudi Arabia, a country that spends billions of euros on whiten their reputation through the influence of sport, what in English is known as sportswashing. At the beginning of 2023, their opposition and that of the governments of Australia and New Zealand, hosts of the World Cup that Spain won in the summer of that year, contributed to the organization not sealing a sponsorship agreement with Visit Saudi, the state tourism company. , facing the tournament. “Then we saw that it was possible, and that is what we are trying to do now,” says Pedersen.
At the 73rd FIFA Congress, held in March last year in Kigali (Rwanda), Infantino acknowledged that there had been conversations with Visit Saudi and was asked about the players’ protests: “It was a storm in a teacup. FIFA is an organization with 211 countries and for us they are all the same. “There would be nothing wrong with signing a sponsorship with Saudi Arabia.” The Swiss leader took the opportunity to allude to the contradiction that private companies from Australia and other countries – the Spanish arms sector, for example, exports weapons to Riyadh – trade with the absolute monarchy of the Saud, but that there are complaints about FIFA doing so to despite the values it claims to represent. “There is a double standard that I do not understand,” added Infantino, who also announced that his organization has the objective that men and women receive the same money in the prizes of the next two World Cups, the men’s in 2026 in Canada, the United States and Mexico and the 2027 women’s tournament in Brazil.
Saudi Arabia bases its strategy sportswashing into three pillars, according to Carlos de las Heras, country specialist at Amnesty International. “One is to attract great sports stars, like Cristiano Ronaldo [juega en el Al Nassr]Karim Benzema [Al Ittihad] or Rafa Nadal [embajador del tenis en Arabia Saudí desde enero]without going any further; another is the organization of major sporting events, such as the Spanish or Italian Super Cups or the 2034 World Cup; and the third is the investment in a third sector that encompasses both the purchase of clubs, such as the case of Newcastle in the United Kingdom, and sponsorships, such as the one LaLiga has with Visit Saudi or Atlético so that its stadium is named after the name of the Saudi airline,” explains De las Heras.
The expert believes that image-washing through sport is working for the Arab country—this month marked six years since the regime’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the critical journalist murdered on October 2, 2018 in the Saudi consulate. Saudi in Istanbul, according to the CIA—and he misses that professionals publicly show more rejection of a State that systematically violates human rights. It was done in August 2023 by Toni Kroos, a former footballer for Real Madrid and the German national team, who was repeatedly booed by the public during the Spanish Super Cup after stating that “going to Arabia is a decision for money and against football.” or that the lack of human rights would prevent him from going there.
However, Kroos’ case is an exception that joins that of female soccer players while the majority of sports reach agreements with Saudi Arabia and other absolute monarchies of the Persian Gulf. “Stronger positions are needed. Athletes and institutions should demand a series of human rights clauses when they sign these contracts,” defends De las Heras. His organization, along with nine other groups, warned last Monday that the evaluation that the Arab country presented to FIFA to host the 2034 World Cup omits documented abuses and serious human rights violations. For Junge Pedersen, the organization directed by Infantino collaborates by accepting the money to maintain the situation in Saudi Arabia, where the authorities “imprison and torture” citizens for speaking about human rights and where the male guardianship system governs, which leaves in the hands of men who are guardians of women’s freedoms and rights, such as choosing who to marry or the possibility of starting a job on their own. “We cannot promote this or help hide these violations,” reproaches the Danish soccer player.
