Soccer Football - World Football Summit Asia - King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - December 3, 2024 The head of the 2034 Saudi Arabia World Cup bid unit, Hammad Albalawi speaks at the World Football Summit Asia in Riyadh REUTERS/Mohammed Benmansour
RIYADH (Reuters) - Hammad Albalawi, head of Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid, stated that the country has made significant progress in human rights while aiming to attract "more fans than ever" to the 48-team showpiece event.
Saudi Arabia is the sole bidder for the 2034 World Cup, with FIFA set to vote on it next week amid concerns about the country's human rights record.
Albalawi said that the strides in human rights, especially in labour laws, are part of Saudi Arabia's commitment to transforming its social and economic landscape under Vision 2030.
"We have come a long way and there's still a long way to go. Our principle is to develop something that is right for us. Our journey started in 2016, not because of the World Cup bid," Albalawi told Reuters.
"We've launched initiatives granting employees the freedom to move between employers. Documents of these employees are now uploaded into government systems, ensuring they have rights within their contracts.
"Only a month and a half ago, the government announced a new government insurance policy... These are substantive examples, not because we're bidding for the World Cup, but because this is part of Vision 2030. This is part of who we are and what we are committed to.
"Our aim and aspiration is to bring more teams and more fans into one place than ever before."
Amnesty International and the Sport & Rights Alliance (SRA) said last month that FIFA must halt the process to pick Saudi Arabia as hosts of the 2034 tournament unless major human rights reforms are announced before the vote.
Albalawi said the World Cup will be held in a safe and family-friendly environment where visitors will enjoy both inside and outside the stadium regardless of the sale of alcohol, which was banned at the 2022 World Cup in neighbouring Qatar.
"I think today what you see in Saudi Arabia is an environment that is family friendly, safe and secure – something that people can actually enjoy on and off the pitch," he said.
"We've had over 100 global sporting events that already have taken place in Saudi Arabia. No alcohol was served in those tournaments. Yet, we had three million sports fans come in and enjoy those tournaments that have come and come again."
Albalawi also pointed to the rapid development of Saudi women's football and its infrastructure as an example of the country's development and social changes.
"Three years ago, there were zero girls playing football in school because the facilities weren't there," he said. "Today, the facilities are there and in two years after the facilities were built, we have over 80,000 girls playing football."
(Reporting by Janina Nuno Rios in Mexico City)
