Amnesty criticism of the German Football Association before the World Cup award

The awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia puts the German Football Association under pressure a good three weeks before the decision. If the DFB agrees to decide on the hosts for the 2030 and 2034 finals, “then ultimately the feeling will remain that, despite all the nice words and declarations, human rights (…) will be subordinated to other interests,” said Katja Müller-Fahlbusch from Amnesty Internationally on the broadcaster RTL.

On December 11th, both World Cups will be awarded en bloc, i.e. in just one vote, during an online congress of the world football association FIFA. There is only one application for each world event. The 2030 World Cup is scheduled to be played in Morocco, Portugal and Spain after opening games in South America; Saudi Arabia is the only candidate in 2034. A vote against one of the final rounds would also be a vote against the other.

The public should be informed

“In the past few months, the DFB has held a number of discussions with a wide range of institutions and facilities regarding the overall 2030/2034 World Cup awards,” the DFB announced on RTL. A final decision as to how the DFB will position itself has not yet been made. RTL, on the other hand, reported that at a meeting of the executive committee at the beginning of November there was agreement that the DFB would agree to the double award.

The DFB Presidium will “finally deal with the matter in advance of the FIFA Congress and will of course inform the public afterwards,” said the DFB. Human rights organizations had repeatedly expressed grave concerns and clearly criticized Saudi Arabia. Amnesty recently announced that Saudi Arabia has an appalling human rights record.