The Football Association board has been warned by voices in internal discussions to avoid protesting at Wednesday’s meeting that will confirm Saudi Arabia as host of the 2034 men’s World Cup, unless it is willing to boycott the tournament.
Saudi Arabia will formally win the right to stage the World Cup at a virtual meeting of the 211-member Fifa congress. On Tuesday there remained a lack of clarity about the process, despite Saudi Arabia being the only bidder, with uncertainty among member nations as to whether they will be given a chance to vote or simply to approve the bid by acclamation, a collective round of applause.
The English FA has not spoken publicly about how it will approach the vote, but it is understood there have been conversations at board level. Some voices have argued against using the vote to register a protest, arguing it would ring hollow if England then compete in the tournament. The FA did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Before the Qatar World Cup in 2022, the FA raised the issue of human rights and LGBTQ+ equality as part of the Uefa working group on human rights. It called for financial remedy for migrant workers and the creation of a migrant workers hub in the country. Neither of these demands was met by Fifa, however, and plans for the captain, Harry Kane, to wear a rainbow armband as a show of solidarity were abandoned in the face of Fifa pressure.
The Norwegian Football Federation (NFF), which has been Fifa’s most vocal critic over the decision to take the World Cup to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has announced it will vote against the bid and register its disapproval of any attempt to pass it through by acclamation. It has written to Fifa expressing concern over the process.
The NFF argues that the bidding process for 2034 has gone against principles of “accountability, transparency, and objectivity” that it says were central to Fifa’s governance reforms of 2016, a process initiated by the current president, Gianni Infantino. It is not expected that Norway will receive much support, if any, from the wider football fraternity.
“The lack of predictability and open processes challenges trust in Fifa as the global custodian of football,” said Lise Klaveness, the NFF president. “Fifa’s own guidelines for human rights and due diligence have also not been adequately integrated into the process, increasing the risk of human rights violations. We have consistently advocated for Fifa to strengthen itself as a rules-based and predictable steward of international football. We must remain consistent in this matter.”
Fifa awarded the Saudi Arabia bid a score of 4.2 out 5, the highest recorded, when it published its evaluation 10 days ago. Describing the possibility of human rights violations as of “medium” risk, the document argued awarding the country the tournament had “good potential to act as a catalyst” for future reforms.
The congress will also ratify the award of the 2030 World Cup to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will stage a match each during the tournament in what Fifa said risked “a significant negative impact on the climate”.
