Criticism of FIFA’s Aramco sponsorship amplifies ahead of 2026 World Cup

October 2 – Various rights groups have called out FIFA and other sporting governing bodies over their sponsorship deals with Saudi state oil company Aramco.

Football’s world governing body, as well as those of F1, cricket and other sports, received formal communication from a coalition of human rights and climate organisations.

They ask if FIFA has taken note of the United Nation’s advice that working with Aramco could contravene international human rights law and standards.

The letter expresses “grave concerns that FIFA, as a result of partnering with Aramco, may provide a platform for a company that, according to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights and UN Special Rapporteurs, is implicated in negative human rights impacts arising from global climate change, and that FIFA risks condoning Aramco’s alleged “greenwashing”, as highlighted by the same UN human rights experts.”

Aramco serves as a ‘major worldwide’ partner of FIFA, sponsoring the 2026 men’s and 2027 women’s FIFA World Cups. Last summer, they had a notable presence at the maiden edition of the Club World Cup.

The oil company also became a FIFA partner months before the world governing body awarded Saudi Arabia the hosting rights to the 2034 World Cup.

FIFA’s close ties with Aramco fly in the face of the organisation’s status as a signatory to the UN’s Sport for Climate Action Framework. In 2021, FIFA committed to the global framework designed to combat climate change.

Yet, the world federation has expanded competitions to a new extreme and signed up Aramco as a main sponsor. Crisscrossing the world on an executive Qatari jet, FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has a notable carbon footprint.

In a statement, James Lynch of FairSquare said: “While world-leading UN human rights experts have been raising the alarm about the impact of Aramco’s activities on the planet and humans, sports organisations like FIFA, Formula 1 and the ICC are happily taking the company’s money, disregarding not only their much vaunted social responsibility statements but also the future of the sports themselves.”

The letter follows last year’s demand from 135 professional players that FIFA drop Aramco as a partner. At the time, Sofie Junge Pedersen, a Danish international, said: “The choice to partner with Aramco helps the Saudi regime distract from its harmful treatment of women and the planet.”

Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1759474086labto1759474086ofdlr1759474086owedi1759474086sni@i1759474086tnuk.1759474086ardni1759474086mas1759474086