FA still to decide on endorsing Saudi World Cup bid

The King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah would be refurbished before the tournament

The Football Association is still to decide whether it will officially endorse Saudi Arabia's 2034 men's World Cup bid at next week's virtual Fifa Congress.

Insiders have told the BBC that discussions involving the FA's board remain ongoing.

It has been suggested that rather than a traditional vote, ratification might instead be confirmed by acclamation - with federations in favour asked to show their support by applauding.

However, Fifa is yet to confirm this, and FA officials have sought clarification on the process.

On Friday, the DFB - Germany's national football association - announced it would vote in favour of both the Saudi Arabia bid and a multi-nation bid for the 2030 event.

The BBC has learned that FA officials are mindful of concerns over Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

However, some are also wary of suggestions of hypocrisy if the body declines to endorse the tournament, but then participates in it.

Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder for the 2034 event, while the 2030 World Cup is set to be awarded to unopposed co-hosts Spain, Morocco and Portugal, with early matches also being played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.

The ratification process has been combined so the 2030 and 2034 hosts will be decided jointly.

It would appear, therefore, that if federations oppose one bid, they would have to support neither, with no separate acclamation for each of the potential hosts.

What's the background?

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has hosted many major sports events, including Formula One, tennis, boxing and golf.

Yet the kingdom's human rights record, restrictions on women's rights and the criminalisation of the LGBTQ+ community has prompted controversy over its ambition to host the men's World Cup in 10 years time.

Last week, Fifa released its evaluation report for Saudi Arabia's bid, awarding it an average score of 4.2 out of 5 - the highest ever - with a conclusion that the tournament posed a 'medium' human rights risk. The assessment sparked condemnation from human rights groups.

Saudi Arabia bid gets German support

The DFB held a committee meeting on Friday to decide its stance, and unanimous approval was given to support the 2030 and 2034 bids.

Its president, Bernd Neuendor, explained: "We did not make the decision lightly and carefully examined the application for the 2034 World Cup.

"There was an exchange with many interest groups and experts, including human rights organisations and fans, on the basis of which a well-founded decision was made.

"We take the criticism of the applicant country seriously and will continue to engage in dialogue. Our goal is to work together with Fifa to improve the situation in the coming years."

In 2022, England and Germany were among a group of European teams that abandoned plans to promote diversity and inclusion by wearing 'OneLove' armbands at the Qatar World Cup after Fifa threatened sporting sanctions. The FA had spoken out about human rights in the country.

The FA declined to comment.

Analysis - Decision will 'divide opinion'

Laura Scott

It is a sign of the complexity of this decision that the FA's hierarchy are still to come down one way or another, with just five days to go.

While Saudi Arabia has become a fairly regular host of top-level sport, this would be another level entirely.

The German FA's statement essentially acknowledges it will be criticised, and makes clear it did not take the decision lightly.

It seems likely, therefore, that whatever decision the English FA takes, it will divide opinion.

Any support of the event comes amid strong criticism from human rights and environmental campaigners, and just six weeks after more than one hundred professional women's footballers wrote to Fifa urging it to drop the Saudi oil giant Aramco as a sponsor.

They called such a deal a "punch in the stomach" to the sport, so awarding the biggest football tournament in the world to the kingdom would likely provoke similar if not stronger criticism.

However, there is a school of thought that sport can be a force for positive change, and that putting a spotlight on Saudi Arabia, if it was to host the World Cup, could help accelerate and enhance reforms.