Nessuna risposta. Sono passate ormai diverse settimane dalla lettera aperta inviata da 106 (nel frattempo divenute 133) calciatrici professioniste da tutto il mondo al presidente della Fifa Gianni Infantino, affinché il governo del calcio mondiale receda dall’accordo di sponsorizzazione con Saudi Aramco, il colosso degli idrocarburi saudita partner dei mondiali di calcio maschili del 2026 (quelli tripartiti tra Stati Uniti, Messico e Canada) e quelli femminili 2027 (che si disputeranno per la prima volta in Sudamerica, in Brasile).
Silenzio e attivismo
Un silenzio che sorprende, vista l’autorevolezza delle firmatarie, il peso specifico dei temi sul tavolo (col rifiuto della partnership con Aramco motivata dal mancato rispetto di diritti civili e umani da parte del governo di Riyad) e il contemporaneo attivismo sociale della Fifa stessa, che proprio in questi giorni ha lanciato il World Cup 2022 Legacy Found, investendo 50 milioni di dollari in progetti in collaborazione con Wto (Organizzazione Mondiale per il Commercio), OMS (Organizzazione Mondiale per la Sanità) e UNHCR (Agenzia ONU per i rifugiati). E senza trascurare che – secondo quanto evidenziato dal New York Times – un report interno imporrebbe alla Fifa stessa di scendere in campo per risarcire i lavoratori rimasti feriti (o, in caso di morte, i loro familiari) nei cantieri per la realizzazione degli stadi proprio di Qatar2022, tema che agito’ a lungo la vigilia di quel tanto discusso Mondiale. Insomma, non che i temi sociali non siano sul tavolo di Zurigo, ma finora nessuna voce se levata a risposta delle richieste delle calciatrici.
Domande irrisolte
Giocatrici che hanno messo nero su bianco alcuni nodi irrisolti della partnership con Saudi Aramco (viatico all’assegnazione proprio all’Arabia Saudita dei Mondiali di calcio maschili 2034, che seguiranno quelli del 2030, edizione del Centenario diffusa tra Sudamerica, Marocco, Spagna e Portogallo!). Si chiedono, in sintesi, le giocatrici, come si possa contemporaneamente sposare la causa ambientalista e essere sponsorizzati da uno dei maggiori colossi petroliferi mondiali; e come soprattutto conciliare i valori di tolleranza e rispetto delle diversità facendosi supportare da quella che è di fatto la longa manus economica di un Paese ancora lontano (è un eufemismo…) da standard minimi di rispetto dei diritti di donne, opposizioni politiche, omosessuali. Domande – si badi bene – che certo non sfuggivano neppure prima di questa iniziativa (vista l’intensa politica di sportwashing messa in campo da Riyad in questi anni), ma che le giocatrici hanno avuto il merito di esplicitare, ponendole così al centro del dibattito politico-sportivo.
Firmatarie della lettera
Tra le firmatarie, oltre alla danese dell’Inter Sofie Pedersen, nomi di rilievo come l’americana Becky Sauerbrunn , l’olandese Vivianne Miedema, la canadese Erin McLeod. E non mancano le giocatrici italiane di serie A e B: Sofia Meneghini dell’Hellas Verona, Agata Centasso del Venezia, Tecla Pettenuzzo del Napoli, Norma Cinotti della Samp, i portieri Matilde Copetti (Parma), Rachele Baldi (Inter), Francesca Durante e Katja Schroffenegger (entrambe della Fiorentina), la romanista e capitana della nazionale Elena Linari.
Intervistata da Radio24-IlSole24Ore nel corso della trasmissione Olympia (condotta da Dario Ricci e in onda ogni domenica alle 16.30 e in podcast su radio24.it e tutte le piattaforme audio), Katja Schroffenegger è stata molto chiara: “La Fifa deve dirci chiaramente da che parte sta: se da quella dei soldi che vuole incassare, o da quella dei valori che dice di voler promuovere. Come è immaginabile che sia Aramco lo sponsor dei mondiali femminili, quando quella multinazionale è l’emblema di un Paese che non rispetta i diritti di donne e minoranze? Perché i calciatori non fanno sentire la loro voce? Non so, ma allora siamo noi donne a far sentire la nostra, e ci aspettiamo risposte. Da questa vicenda potrebbe nascere anche un sindacato internazionale che riunisca le sole calciatrici? Nulla è escluso.”
Parole che suonano come un pressing deciso nei confronti di Gianni Infantino; e staremo a vedere quanto il numero uno del calcio mondiale stavolta sarà bravo nel dribbling….
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Ascolta la puntata di Olympia dedicata a questo tema
Di seguito il testo della lettera delle calciatrici inviata alla Fifa
Dear President Infantino,
Aramco sponsorship is a middle finger to women’s football
For most of our time as professional players, it has felt like things are improving for women in football. For many, our experience now is unrecognisable from that of the women who came before us. Whilst we’re far from where we want to be, we’re making progress.
There’s a whole generation growing up today in a world where the ambition of becoming a professional footballer is not just the dream of young boys. Women’s games across the world are posting record attendances and viewing figures, clubs and sponsors are beginning to properly finance the women’s game, and last summer the Women’s World Cup saw nearly two million tickets sold.[1] As part of that, we’re continuing to push forward into a world where football is truly for everyone and LGBTQ+ players and fans are welcomed in the stands and on the pitch.
But FIFA’s announcement of Saudi Aramco as its ‘major’ partner has set us so far back that it’s hard to fully take in. Saudi Aramco is the main money-pump for Saudi Arabia, and is 98.5 % state-owned.
Saudi authorities have been spending billions in sports sponsorship to try to distract from the regime’s brutal human rights reputation, but its treatment of women speaks for itself.[2]
This is a regime that in January 2023 sentenced a Leeds (UK) PhD student, dental hygienist and a mother of two Salma al-Shehab to 27 years in prison followed by a 27 year travel ban for retweeting in favour of free speech.[3] It’s a regime that only allowed women to drive in 2018, and even then locked up the women who had campaigned for that progress to take place, subjecting them to sexual harassment and torture during interrogation. Those released are still under travel bans and face restrictions on their freedom of expression, including women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul and her family.[4] The week after FIFA announced the partnership with Aramco, fitness instructor Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced to 11 years in prison under ‘anti-terror’ laws, simply for promoting female empowerment on social media.[5] Other women who are currently incarcerated simply for peaceful expression of their views include 18-year-old secondary school student Manal al-Gafiri (imprisoned for 18 years), Fatima al-Shawarbi (30 years), Sukaynah al-Aithan (40 years), and Nourah al-Qahtani (45 years).
The Saudi authorities trample not only on the rights of women, but on the freedom of all other citizens too. Imagine LGBTQ+ players, many of whom are heroes of our sport, being expected to promote Saudi Aramco during the 2027 World Cup, the national oil company of a regime that criminalises the relationships that they are in and the values they stand for?
Finally, as the largest state-owned oil and gas company in the world, Saudi Aramco is one of the corporations which is most responsible for burning football’s future.[6] Grassroots football across the world is being smashed by extreme heat, drought, fires and floods, but as we all pay the consequences Saudi Arabia rakes in its profits, with FIFA as its cheerleader.
With the record of Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, we don’t have to look far for examples of the last time FIFA sold its principles and those of football’s fans and players. FIFA’s recent decisions are made by a Council of 37, of which only 8 are women (22%). These are decisions made by men privileged enough not to be threatened by Saudi authorities’ treatment of women, those who are LGBTQ+, migrants, minorities or those whose present and future are most at threat from climate change.
Exactly a year ago, many of us came together to play at the pinnacle of our sport in the Women’s 2023 World Cup. The inclusivity and sustainability of that World Cup set a new standard for football, and one which FIFA should be looking to build on. Instead of a step forward, having Saudi Aramco as the sponsor for the next World Cup in 2027 would be a stomach punch to the women’s game, undermining decades of work from fans and players around the globe. A corporation that bears glaring responsibility for the climate crisis, owned by a state that criminalises LBGTQ+ individuals and systematically oppresses women, has no place sponsoring our beautiful game.
We wish that all people in Saudi Arabia, including women and girls, receive access to and enjoyment from sport, whether as participants or fans. It is because we stand alongside the citizens of Saudi Arabia whose human rights are violated that we are speaking out. We don’t want to be part of covering up these violations.
We urge FIFA to reconsider this partnership and replace Saudi Aramco with alternative sponsors whose values align with gender equality, human rights and the safe future of our planet. We also propose the establishment of a review committee with player representation, to evaluate the ethical implications of future sponsorship deals and ensure they align with our sport’s values and goals.
We ask FIFA three questions: 1. How can FIFA justify this sponsorship given the human rights violations committed by the Saudi authorities? 2. How can FIFA defend this sponsorship given Saudi Aramco’s significant responsibility for the climate crisis? 3. What is FIFA’s response to our proposal of the establishment of a review committee with player representation?
This sponsorship is much worse than an own goal for football: FIFA might as well pour oil on the pitch and set it alight. Our job as professional players has been a dream for us and is a dream for the girls who will be the players of the future. We deserve so much better from our governing body than its allyship with this nightmare sponsor.
From:
Sofie Junge Pedersen – Inter Milan with 88 caps for Danish national team
Tessel Middag – Rangers FC with 44 caps for the Dutch national team
Katie Rood – former player for Juventus, Southampton and Lewes FC with 15 caps for New Zealand national team
And 103 other professional players:
Becky Sauerbrunn – Captain of Portland Thorns, former captain of US national team with 217 caps
Jessie Fleming – Portland Thorns, Captain of Canadian national team with 132 caps
Elena Linari – AS Roma, Captain of Italian national team with 105 caps
Khalida Popal – Co-founder and former Captain of the Afghanistan national team
Jane Ross – Rangers FC, with 151 caps for Scottish national team
Linda Sällström – Vittsjö GIK with 139 caps for Finnish national team
Loes Geurts – BK Häcken with 125 caps for the Dutch national team
Tinja-Riikka Korpela – Servette FC with 123 caps for Finnish national team
Vivianne Miedema – Manchester City with 120 caps for Dutch national team
Erin McLeod – Stjarnan FC with 119 caps for Canadian national team
Lisa Evans – Bristol City with 109 caps for Scottish national team
Diane Caldwell – FC Zürich with 102 caps for Irish national team
Doris Bacic – SSC Napoli with 84 caps for Croatian national team
Sanni Franssi – Real Sociedad with 81 caps for Finnish national team
Erin Nayler – Bayern Munich with 68 caps for New Zealand national team
Ayisat Yusuf – former player for Delta Queens FC and River Angels SC with 68 caps for Nigerian national team
Meikayla Moore – former player for MSV Duisburg, Liverpool FC and Glasgow City with 67 caps for New Zealand national team
Aivi Luik – BK Häcken FF with 42 caps for Australian national team
Gabi Rennie – Åland United with 36 caps for New Zealand national team
Alex Chidiac – Melbourne Victory with 32 caps for Australian national team
Viktoria Pinther – Dijon FCO with 31 caps for Austrian national team
Malia Steinmetz – FC Nordsjælland with 28 caps for New Zealand national team
Julia Tunturi – Vittsjö GIK with 27 caps for the Finnish national team
Luna Gevitz – former player for Montpellier Hérault Sport Club, BK Häcken, Guingamp, with 25 caps for Danish national team
Ella Van Kerkhoven – Feyenoord with 24 caps for Belgium national team
Katja Schroffenegger – Como Women with 20 caps for Italian national team
Lily Agg – Birmingham City with 18 caps for Irish national team
Ciara Grant – Hibernian FC with 18 caps for Irish national team
Niamh Charles – Chelsea with 16 caps for English national team
Andrine Tomter – Rosenborg BK with 16 caps for Norwegian national team
Francesca Durante – Inter Milan with 12 caps for Italian national team
Paulina Krumbiegel – Juventus FC with 11 caps for the German national team
Sarah Dyrehauge – Aarhus Gymnastikforening with 9 caps for Danish national team
Sinead Farrelly – former player for Gotham FC with 8 caps for Irish national team
Macey Leigh Fraser – Utah Royals with 5 caps for New Zealand national team
Sara Lindbak Hørte – Rosenborg BK with 5 caps for Norwegian national team
Emmi Siren – FC Nordsjælland with 4 caps for Finnish national team
Amalie Thestrup – Bristol City FC with 4 caps for Danish national team
Matilde Lundorf Skovsen – SSC Napoli with 3 caps for Danish national team
Emma Regan – HB Køge with 3 caps for Canadian national team
Emilía Kiær Ásgeirsdóttir – FC Nordsjælland with 2 caps for Icelandic national team
Maitane Lopez Millan – Gotham FC with 2 caps for Spanish national team
Rachele Baldi – Fiorentina with 1 cap for Italian national team
Emma Beckett – former player for Watford and Tottenham Hotspur with 1 cap for Irish national team
Samantha Chang – Hb Køge with 1 cap for the Canadian national team
Norma Cinotti – Sampdoria with 1 cap for Italian national team
Rhian Cleverly – Rugby Borough WFC, Lewes FC with 1 cap for Welsh national team
Sierra Cota-Yarde – Southern Methodist University with 1 cap for Portuguese national team
Abbie Cusack – Dundee United with 1 cap for Scottish national team
Cecilie Fløe Nielsen – Tampa Bay Sun FC with 1 cap for Danish national team
Jeanne Hillion – Servette FC with 1 cap for French national team
Anna Koivunen – IF Brommapojkarna with 1 cap for Finnish national team
Dana Leskinen – IFK Norrköping with 1 cap for Finnish national team
Tecla Pettenuzzo – SCC Napoli with 1 cap for Italian national team
Stephanie Ribeiro – Universidad Nacional (Pumas) with 1 cap for Portuguese national team
Katrine Svane Jacobsen – Aarhus Gymnastikforening and 1 cap for Danish national team
Alma Aagaard – FC Nordsjælland
Simone Andersen – FC Nordsjælland
Ella Beaton-Hill – Spartans FC
Emilie Billing – FC Thy-Thisted Q
Emilie Bølviken – Stabæk Fotball Kvinner
Kyra Carusa – San Diego Wave
Bourma Daïna – Servette FC
Amanda Brunholt – FC Nordsjælland
Mathilde Carstens – Celtic FC
Zalie Chaine – Montpellier Hérault Sport Club
Isobel Dalton – Perth Glory
Kess Elmore – Brooklyn FC
Sophie French – Odense Boldklub Q
Marie Gade – Aarhus Gymnastikforening
Marina Georgieva – AC Fiorentina
Winonah Heatley – FC Nordsjælland
Ziva Henry – Feyenoord
Selma Hernes – Lyn Fotball Damer
Kristin Holmen – Lyn Fotball Damer
Marie Holmgaard – Odense Boldklub Q
Emma Ilijoski – Hearts of Midlothian FC
Gillian Inglis – Motherwell FC
Julie Jensen – Odense Boldklub Q
Emmy Jézéquel – RC Strasbourg
Hannah Jordan – Spartans FC
Elin Landström – former player for IFK Norrköping, AS Roma and Inter Milan
Alexandra Larsson – BK Häcken FF
Jenna Legg – Oxford United
Martine Leonards – Stabæk Fotball Kvinner
Rosie Livingstone – Hibernian FC
Signe Markvardsen – Hb Køge
Mallie McKenzie – Portland Thorns
Meaghan Nally – Portland Thorns
Jaida Nyby – Vittsjö GIK
Marie Lynge Olesen – Aarhus Gymnastikforening
Nyla Peterkin – Rugby Borough WFC
Gabby Provenzano – Portland Thorns
Anja Rasmussen – Stabæk Fotball Kvinner
Elisa Rambaud – Montpellier Hérault Sport Club
Mathilde Rasmussen – Aarhus Gymnastikforening
Viivi Spets – Ilves
Arna Þráinsdóttir – Odense Boldklub Q
Saana Tuomala – Ilves
Jill van den Ende – ADO Den Haag
Manon van Raay – ADO Den Haag
Amber Verspaget – Feyenoord
Olivia Wänglund – Vittsjö GIK
Factsheet on Saudi Arabia and Saudi Aramco
The below has been prepared with oversight from Amnesty International, ALQST for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch and with data from InfluenceMap.
- Whilst FIFA’s sponsorship deal is with Saudi Aramco, Saudi Aramco is 98.5 % owned by the Saudi state, and is the country’s main source of money, so the two are very closely related.
- The sponsorship announcement is part of an increasingly close relationship between FIFA and Saudi Arabia, which includes Saudi hosting the FIFA Club World Cup in 2023, and FIFA facilitating Saudi Arabia being the only bid for the Men’s World Cup in 2034.
Saudi Arabia and Human Rights:
- This year, Saudi Arabia was given a score of only 8% in Freedom House’s analysis of the country, meaning it is one of the most repressive regimes on the planet:
- “The regime relies on pervasive surveillance, the criminalization of dissent, appeals to sectarianism and ethnicity, and public spending supported by oil revenues to maintain power,” it said, adding: “Women and members of religious minority groups face extensive discrimination in law and in practice. Working conditions for the large expatriate labour force are often exploitative.”
- Amnesty International says that Saudi authorities have adopted “a zero-tolerance policy for any criticism, no matter how innocuous”, and people are being sentenced to some of the harshest sentences they have ever documented in Saudi Arabia for expression, including decades-long prison terms as well as death sentences. They also say that the Saudi Arabian government is “investing massively in sports, business and entertainment to distract the world from its abysmal human rights record”.
- Human Rights Watch says border killings of migrants and asylum in the country may amount to crimes against humanity and details repeated crackdowns and attacks on freedom of expression, women and LGBT people.
- Human Rights Watch says Saudi investments in European football are a clear attempt to divert attention away from the regime’s abuses. These include killing and dismembering journalists, regressive laws governing women and LGBT+ people and mass executions of opponents.
- Treatment of women:
- In January 2023 Saudi Arabia sentenced a Leeds PhD student, dental hygienist and a mother of two Salma al-Shehab to 27 years in prison followed by a 27 year travel ban for retweeting in favour of free speech.
- Saudi Arabia only allowed women to drive in 2018, and even then has locked up the women who had campaigned for that progress to take place, because the state wanted to take credit for the progress and continues to suppress dissent.
- Amongst others, this includes women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul, who is still under a travel ban
- Lina Alhathloul, Loujain’s sister, from ALQST shares: “In 2018 my sister Lujain was kidnapped and tortured for her feminist work trying to allow women to drive. For months we did not know where she was, and to this day she’s not been allowed to leave Saudi Arabia.
- “Saudi Arabia also has a disobedience law still in place, which means that if a man in my family considers something I do as disobedience he can get me arrested for that and imprisoned, and I would not be able to leave without the consent of a male guardian.
- “The Saudi government is investing massively in sports, distracting the world from the country’s human rights abuses. By speaking out, we are telling the Saudi authorities that our silence cannot be bought.”
- The week after FIFA announced the partnership with Aramco, fitness instructor Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced by Saudi Arabia to 11 years in prison under ‘anti-terror’ laws, simply for promoting female empowerment on social media.
- Other women who are currently incarcerated simply for peaceful expression of their views include 18-year-old secondary school student Manal al-Gafiri (imprisoned for 18 years), Fatima al-Shawarbi (30 years), Sukaynah al-Aithan (40 years), and Nourah al-Qahtani (45 years).
- Saudi Arabia criminalises same-sex sexual activity between men and between women.
Saudi Aramco and the Planet
- Recent analysis of post-industrial revolution emissions from the Carbon Majors database shows Saudi Aramco to be the third largest polluter globally and the largest state-owned fossil fuel producer, and has no meaningful plans to stop.
- In March 2024, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said: “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas, and instead invest in them adequately, reflecting realistic demand assumptions.”
- Saudi’s claims that the Kingdom is diversifying away from oil are dubious at best. Whilst Saudi Arabia is targeting 50% of energy from ‘clean’ sources by 2030, in 2021 the International Energy Agency (IEA) assessed just 3% of Saudi power came from renewables. In 2022 IRENA rated Saudi clean energy as 1% of the power mix.
- In 2023 UN human rights experts warned of the ‘significant human rights impact Saudi Aramco and its financial backers have across the world through the state-run oil company’s outsized contribution to the climate crisis.’
- In 2023 analysts at the campaign group LINGO calculated that Saudi Aramco oil and gas projects will kill 43 million people and global damages of $80 billion.
- Saudi Arabia also has a track record of undermining global efforts to tackle the climate crisis. This 2023 CSSN paper by US and UK academics states Riyadh is responsible for ‘decades of systemic obstruction’.
- InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap platform assesses climate policy engagement for over 500 companies and 250 industry associations globally. Among Climate Action 100+ companies, the largest corporate GHG emitters, Aramco ranks in the bottom 10%, with only 13 companies lobbying more negatively with climate policy.
- At COP28 the Saudis tried to obstruct a global fossil fuel phaseout pledge (as covered by the New York Times & AFP among others).
[1] ‘Staggering statistics demonstrate FIFA Women’s World Cup Growth’, FIFA; ‘Largest attendances in Women’s Football History’, Sport Bible; ‘Annual Review of Football Finance’, Deloitte
[2] ‘Saudi Arabia is Spending a Fortune on Sport’, The Economist
[3] ‘Saudi Arabia: Release woman sentenced to 27 years for tweets’, Amnesty International
[4] ‘You can’t leave and we won’t tell you why: travel bans in Saudi Arabia’, Amnesty International
[5] ‘Manahel al-Otaibi: Saudi women’s rights activist jailed for 11 years’, BBC
[6] Carbon Majors database of historical production data from world’s largest oil and gas companies.
