Saudi Arabia and international sports, a tale of politics and greed

Saudi Arabia brings out the worst in the world of international sports in terms of politics and greed. FIFA’s awarding Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup hosting rights is just the tip of the iceberg. The awarding violated the world soccer body’s human rights policy and mocked the sports world’s fiction that sports and politics are separate rather than Siamese twins joined at the hip. The Olympic Council of Asia’s earlier awarding of the 2029 Asian Winter Games to Saudi Arabia, even though the kingdom lacks a qualifying winter season and intends to hold the tournament in a troubled mega science fiction project that is under construction, is another example of politics and money trumping sports.