What Were They Thinking?

Okay, let’s get the obvious out of the way right out of the gate. There was no THOUGHT going into FIFA’s (that’s Fédération Internationale de Football Association for you non-soccer folks) choice to make Visit Saudi a major sponsor of the upcoming 2023 Women’s World Cup. Just flash a big pile of cash at the governing body, and you’re in!

Which is also why soccer’s world governing body awarded Saudi Arabia the 2023 Club World Cup. And, of course, why last year’s Men’s World Cup was played in Qatar. After all, what’s a little human rights abuse (not to mention a shockingly high death toll before and during the World Cup) when there are billions of dollars at stake?

It is certainly enough money to make FIFA leadership look the other way on Saudi Arabia’s oppressive stance on LGBTQ+ rights and laws that still keep women mostly under male guardianship.

(Allow me to pause here to shout out Anne Thériault, from whom I’ve borrowed the above formatting because it felt like the right fit here.)

Naturally, players were not consulted about this, and neither were the 2023 Women’s World Cup host countries, New Zealand and Australia. If you figure that news of such a partnership would not go over well, give yourself a gold star because you’re a lot further ahead in thoughtfulness and empathy than FIFA leadership.

United States Women’s National Team veteran Alex Morgan said, “I think it’s bizarre that FIFA has looked to have a ‘Visit Saudi’ sponsorship for the Women’s World Cup when I would not even be supported and accepted in that country, so I just don’t understand it. Pretty much everyone has spoken out against that because morally, it just doesn’t make sense.”

THOSE WHO PLAY SOCCER IN GLASS STADIUMS…

Morgan’s comments came during the She Believes Cup played in February. Tournament games were played in Texas and Florida; two states that recently passed legislation targeting transgender athletes.

“Playing in Florida and Texas, that’s something that the team definitely needs to look at. I think just even talking about it is good.

“The inclusion of trans kids in sports is the inclusion of kids in sports. Everyone should have the ability to play sport. And the fact that it’s being taken into politics so big is really sad. And I think it’s at the cost of trans kids’ lives…for this team, we’ve always been very vocal with where we stand and I think we’ll continue to do that,” Morgan said.

USWNT defender Becky Sauerbrunn wrote an op-ed in the Springfield News-Leader.

“I have been championing gender equity in sport for a long time, and I am done seeing transgender youth being cruelly targeted to score political points,” Sauerbrunn wrote.

“Transgender people are exactly that, people — not tools to be wielded in a climb up the political ladder. I’m not alone ― hundreds of other elite women athletes from Billie Jean King to Candace Parker have consistently expressed loud opposition to bills almost identical to the ones being heard in the Missouri Senate. Thousands of college athletes have signed letters supporting transgender athletes and against discriminatory bills like these.”

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS

There are rumblings that FIFA may be reconsidering Visit Saudi’s sponsorship of the Women’s World Cup. According to an article in The Guardian, Football Australia officials will bring up the matter with FIFA officials at the governing body’s upcoming meetings in Rwanda.

FOOTBALL FOR THE PEOPLE?

Even if FIFA cuts Visit Saudi out of the Women’s World Cup sponsorship lineup, the government may remain a sponsor under a different Saudi government body.

Plus, there is every indication that the country will remain the host for the Club World Cup tournament. This is despite the fact that these clubs also have personnel and supporters who are women and LGBTQ+.

Because as long as there are oppressive governments with billions to splash around, there will be sports entities who value cash over human rights ready to take their money.