United States superstar Alex Morgan has urged FIFA to “do the right thing” and abandon a planned sponsorship with Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority for this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
A two-time World Cup winner and 2012 Olympic gold medallist, Morgan has become the highest-profile player to speak out against the deal FIFA is reportedly contemplating with Visit Saudi, which has been roundly condemned by human rights groups and sparked an immediate ‘please explain’ from the co-hosts when reports about it first emerged.
Alex Morgan has taken aim at FIFA’s prospective Women’s World Cup sponsorship deal with Visit Saudi.Credit:Getty
Morgan, 33, will be one of the biggest names to feature in the tournament, which kicks off on July 20, but is uncomfortable with players at the Women’s World Cup being associated with a country which heavily restricts the rights of women – who could not even watch football matches in Saudi Arabia until 2018 – and where same-sex relationships are illegal.
“I think it’s bizarre that FIFA has looked to have a Visit Saudi sponsorship for the Women’s World Cup, when I, myself, Alex Morgan, would not even be accepted and supported in that country,” Morgan said.
“I just don’t understand it. I think that what Saudi Arabia can do is put an effort into their women’s team that was only formed a couple of years ago, and doesn’t even have a current ranking within the FIFA ranking system because of how few games they’ve played. That would be my advice to them, and I really hope that FIFA does the right thing. I mean, pretty much everyone has spoken out against that, because morally, it just doesn’t make sense.”
The United States Soccer Federation has since released a statement promising to “voice our concerns” despite having no say over who FIFA decides to align with commercially for the tournaments their national teams are involved with.
Matildas players last week took a more cautious approach than Morgan when asked about the matter, and midfielder Tameka Yallop said it would be discussed further among players, who were only just digesting what the implications could be for them.
FIFA is yet to publicly address the prospective Visit Saudi sponsorship, which prompted Football Australia chairman Chris Nikou and his New Zealand Football counterpart Joanna Wood to express the “serious disappointment and concern” of both nations in a letter to the global governing body.
Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said on SEN this week that the federation remains in the dark as to whether it is even happening, and is unhappy at not being directly informed it was a possibility.
“We found out through third-party information that this may be occurring. Our immediate response was to ask for confirmation that this wasn’t the case. And that’s when everything blew up, quite frankly,” he said. “We’re unhappy that we weren’t involved in any consultative process that seems to have led to this decision.
“If in the end, there has been a deal done, which we’re still waiting information on … we’ll put out another statement, but we need to get that information before we make that statement about what it actually is we’re dealing with.”
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