Saudi Arabia new sponsor of the Women’s World Cup

Saudi Arabia is the new sponsor of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer. Several human rights groups have criticized the deal over the country’s reputation for women’s rights.

A spokesman for human rights group Human Rights Watch called it a “classic example of sportswashing”: a tactic in which governments, companies or individuals use sports to improve their tarnished reputations. Saudi Arabia has long been using major sporting events to divert attention from human rights violations in the country, regularly resulting in strong criticism.

Since 2016, Saudi Arabia has embarked on a new course: Vision 2030. With the aim of becoming less dependent on oil revenues and becoming more attractive to foreign investors. Human rights organization Grant Liberty calculated in 2021 that the country had already spent more than 1.2 billion euros to bring major sporting events to the country. An example is the expansion of Formula 1 to Saudi Arabia.

Human rights

Saudi Arabia has an erratic human rights record. Criticism of the regime is severely punished, including executions and corporal punishment. The country is also known for the great lack of women’s rights, although some rules have been changed or abolished in recent years. For example, since 2019, women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to apply for a passport themselves and travel abroad independently, without the permission of their husband or guardian.

For a long time, women were also banned from watching football, but that ban was lifted in 2018. In 2020, the first women’s football league was launched. This month, the Saudi Arabia women’s national team won a friendly event in an attempt to secure their first place in the FIFA women’s rankings.