November 25 – FIFA and 2034 World Cup organiser Saudi Arabia will distribute up to $1 billion ‘in concessional loans’ in support of sports infrastructure in developing nations.
FIFA has confirmed it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Saudi Fund for Development (SDF) to provide financial support to developing nations for the “construction or the enhancement of FIFA-certified stadiums and essential surrounding infrastructure.”
The new programme will focus on member associations in the global south, but the terms of the ‘concessional loans’ were not disclosed.
With the MoU, Saudi Arabia is once again scaling up, building on its growing influence in world sport and football. The Arab Kingdom will stage the 2034 World Cup after FIFA last year fast-tracked Saudi Arabia’s bid for the tournament. Aramco is the world governing body’s global title sponsor. The country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) also sponsored FIFA’s 32-team Club World Cup in the United States.
In a statement, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said: “FIFA’s role is to develop football worldwide, and many of our FIFA Member Associations need additional support for the infrastructure necessary to host competitions.
“Through this memorandum of understanding with the Saudi Fund for Development, up to USD 1 billion will be made available via concessional loans to finance the construction and enhancement of FIFA-certified stadiums. This agreement is a crucial step in ensuring our FIFA Member Associations have the facilities to make football truly global.”
The $1 billion financial support follows FIFA’s generous distribution of development money under the organisation’s forward programme. In the 2016-2022 cycle, FIFA distributed $2.8 billion. Each of FIFA’s 211 member associations is entitled to $8 million under the current forward programme 3.0. During the coronavirus pandemic, FIFA set up a COVID-19 relief plan of $1.5 billion in the form of grants and loans.
The signing of memoranda of understanding also follows a pattern of Saudi sports ‘diplomacy’. In the years leading up to the 2034 World Cup host announcement, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) signed dozens of memoranda of understanding with football associations and even confederations around the world.
On its website, the SDF writes: “Through the unlimited support of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, SFD manages generous grants dedicated to supporting and financing various development projects and programs in least developed countries across the world.” The fund, with more than 700 projects worth 77 billion riyals, typically does not invest in sports.
The new announcement prompted criticism from NGOs.
“Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian regime, totally dependent on its fossil fuel income,” said Fossil Free Football (FFF), a Dutch-based activist group that has been calling on football to fight climate change.
“With this latest move, they are using the soft power of football to improve their reputation in the global South,” said FFF. Many developing countries are quickly expanding solar power and this will lower demand for Saudi oil. The Saudi leadership is desperate to keep the world hooked on its oil. We should see this loan program as the latest soft power move of a fossil fuel regime trying to slow this transition.”
“It’s all part of an overall strategy of building soft power, maintaining demand for oil and blocking climate action. We see it in the Saudi state oil company Aramco sponsorship of FIFA, in bringing Cristiano Ronaldo to the White House and while blocking any progress at COP.
“It’s scandalous that Infantino is willing to sell out football and the world’s biggest billboard to a fossil fuel state whose actions worsen the climate crisis.”
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