A group of international lawyers filed a formal complaint to FIFA on Thursday claiming the soccer body is failing to uphold its human rights policy with 2034 World Cup host Saudi Arabia.
The filing using FIFA’s own online portal for grievance reporting was made by FIFA’s former anti-corruption adviser Mark Pieth, Swiss lawyer Stefan Wehrenberg and British barrister Rodney Dixon.
Their offers to advise FIFA on human rights compliance were ignored before Saudi Arabia was confirmed last December as the 2034 host by acclamation without a rival bidder.
“As highlighted in this complaint, widespread human rights abuses continue to be perpetrated in Saudi Arabia, and no steps are being taken by FIFA to address these in the buildup to the World Cup,” the lawyers state in a 30-page document.
“Instead, it appears it is business as usual with no changes to be made,” the complaint said hours before FIFA opens its first annual congress of 211 member federations since the Saudi hosting win in an online meeting.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino was due for an unprecedented last-minute arrival at the congress in Paraguay after joining U.S. President Donald Trump on a state visit to Saudi Arabia. The oil-rich kingdom has repeatedly said it is increasing freedoms as part of the Vision 2030 program to modernize its society and economy.
Infantino has tied FIFA’s finances and politics closer to Saudi’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, since before the 2018 World Cup.
Infantino and Trump then had meetings on Wednesday in neighboring Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host which faced a decade of intense scrutiny for its human rights record and treatment of migrant workers needed to build stadiums and infrastructure for the tournament.
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