World soccer authority FIFA has named Saudi Arabia as the hosting nation of the 2034 World Cup tournament despite the Muslim country’s record of human rights abuses.
It was also confirmed that Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay will each host matches for the 2030 tournament, the BBC reported.
FIFA confirmed the awards during its Extraordinary FIFA Congress meeting on Wednesday in Zurich.
“In today’s divided world, where it seems that nobody can agree any more on anything, to be able to agree on something like that is definitely an incredible message of unity and positivity. And we need these messages today,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
“Seven countries have won their World Cup today. Congratulations to Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Morocco, Portugal, Spain and Saudi Arabia. This is your day. So, you should celebrate and we, we celebrate, of course, with you. And you, the 211 FIFA Member Associations that I can see on a giant screen in front of me, you are uniting the world. You are uniting the world truly, through football, because, of course, football unites the world,” the organization added.
The announcement of Saudi Arabia was made despite protests over the Muslim country’s dismal human rights record.
That problematic record was at least given lip service during the conference. Switzerland’s football association said it would approve Saudi Arabia’s bid for the games but also demanded that FIFA set up a monitoring system for human rights abuses in the Kingdom.
The Danish Football Union also said it wants FIFA to monitor human rights.
The Saudis have put billions of dollars into building and planning stadiums to serve the World Cup to smooth the Kingdom’s continued emergence onto the world stage as something other than merely an oil power.
But FIFA and their affiliated leagues constantly push the radical LGBTQ agenda. For instance, English FA officials in Britain threatened to punish a player for writing “I Love Jesus” on the rainbow captain armband the league tried to force players to wear last week.
So, on the one hand, FIFA is pushing the radical LGBTQ agenda in easily compliant countries, and on the other, it is handing billion-dollar World Cup deals to nations such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which have laws prohibiting homosexuality and where gays are jailed, among other human rights abuses.
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