Saudi Arabia World Cup: have lessons been learned from Qatar?

The "reckless decision" to award the 2034 men's football World Cup to Saudi Arabia will "put many lives at risk", Amnesty International has warned.

Human rights groups believe Fifa, world football's governing body, has "not learned the lessons" of Qatar's "much-criticised" preparations to host the 2022 World Cup, said Time. As a result, concerns are now growing over who will build the necessary infrastructure, as well as the plight of female and LGBTQ+ football fans.

What did the commentators say?

At "every stage" of the bidding process for the 2034 finals, Fifa showed that its commitment to human rights was "a sham", said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s head of labour rights and sport.

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A particularly "vexed conundrum" for the organisers is who will be found to build the stadiums, transport links and 185,000 extra hotel rooms required for the Saudi tournament, said Oliver Brown in The Telegraph.

But "we hardly need a distant reference point for our answer". Qatar's "gaudy spectacular" in 2022 was built on "the sacrifice of countless workers" from countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and the Philippines, who were paid "atrociously" to "endure the dust and hotter-than-hell conditions".

Far from learning from that experience, said The Guardian, Fifa has "ignored" its own report into the Qatar World Cup over workers' compensation.

The governing body's subcommittee on human rights and social responsibility found that Fifa has a "responsibility" to provide financial compensation to workers who suffered in Qatar. The report suggested that Fifa should use its Qatar legacy fund for the payments but, just 48 hours before the report was published, Fifa said that the $50 million fund would instead be used on international development projects.

Fifa's assurances over the Saudi tournament aren't convincing many and the 2022 tournament is casting a long shadow. "Look at what happened with Qatar," Uefa's former general secretary, Lars-Christer Olsson, told The Times. "All the promises that they gave were not fulfilled in regards to human rights, and taking care of the workers, and improving democracy.”

But perhaps, "in some ways", the lessons of Qatar "have been learnt", said The Independent. That means we "won't hear any real resistance" to the Saudis being chosen as hosts ecause "all of this has been normalised" and "there was no need for any of the backdoor issues" of the Qatar campaign this time "because everything is so brazen and in front of your face".

What next?

With the tournament still a decade away, attention will focus on how the Saudis and Fifa can overcome the public relations challenge they're facing. Between now and 2034, the Middle Eastern kingdom is also hosting men's football's 2027 Asian Cup and the 2029 Asian Winter Games, which offer it chances to win over critics.

Hammad Albalawi, head of the Saudi 2034 bid, said that the country has made significant progress in human rights and wants to attract "more fans than ever" to the event. "We have come a long way and there's still a long way to go," he said.

Meanwhile, the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said he is "aware of critics and fears". The organisation expects "social improvements and positive human rights impacts", adding that "the world will of course be watching".