At least the top players heading to the Women’s World Cup have got some balls.
Remember when the best men’s footballers said they would not be silenced when it came to highlighting concerns about basic human rights at Qatar 2022? FIFA then made some vague threats about yellow cards and the multi-coloured armbands - hardly the most daring gesture of defiance in the first place - were ditched in an instant.
Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, had been derided ahead of last year’s World Cup when he said, basically, that national associations should ‘stick to football.’ But that is exactly what they did. Thankfully, it looks like high-profile women footballers will not be so pliable.
It has been widely reported, but not yet confirmed, that the tourism authority Visit Saudi will be one of FIFA’s commercial partners for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand later this year.
The sport’s governing bodies in those countries have already expressed their anger at this prospect and, now, two-time World Cup winner, Alex Morgan has given FIFA both barrels.
“Morally, it just doesn’t make sense,” said Morgan, who has scored 120 goals for the United States. “It is bizarre that FIFA has looked to have a Visit Saudi sponsorship for the Women’s World Cup when I, myself, Alex Morgan, would not even be supported and accepted in that country.”
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should FIFA ditch Visit Saudi as the sponsor of the Women's World Cup? Comment below.
When the world’s top players are openly expressing their disgust, it will be interesting to see what FIFA does. But Infantino and FIFA are so in thrall to Saudi Arabia and Qatar and their limitless funds, that it is hard to see them taking any sort of conciliatory step.
The 2027 AFC Asian Cup will take place in Saudi Arabia and we all know the World Cup will end up there one day. They are, of course, not the only ones to drool over Saudi money.
Formula One, men’s golf, Newcastle United, women’s golf, tennis, Lionel Messi, boxing, Cristiano Ronaldo, horse racing, the list goes on and on … because the cash goes on and on.
It really is limitless. In one quarter of last year, Saudi’s state-owned oil company, Aramco, made profits in excess of £40billion.
In unrelated news, the European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights and action group Reprieve have recently published a report saying the rate of executions under de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman has almost doubled, with the past six years among the bloodiest in the Kingdom’s history.
The report says an average of 129 annual executions have been carried out since 2015, with 147 taking place in 2022 - 90 of them for crimes that were considered non-violent. That might make your stomach turn but at least they have loads of money to invest in sport. Swings and roundabouts.
There IS a possible, positive flip side to the sports washing phenomenon, in that there may be a fiercer light shone on the human rights issues in Saudi. But that will only happen if more people follow the lead of top sports people such as Alex Morgan … and grow a pair.
