SAUDI ARABIA - Host of 2034 World Cup
Soccer’s international governing body FIFA confirmed the locations for the next two men’s World Cups, announcing Spain, Portugal and Morocco as joint hosts for the 2030 tournament, with games played in Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. FIFA also announced Saudi Arabia as the host for the 2034 World Cup.
“FIFA is willfully blind to the country’s human rights record, setting up a decade of potentially horrific human rights abuses preparing for the 2034 World Cup,” Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement in November.
The kingdom has recently made massive investments in global sports, drawing accusations of “sportswashing”—the use of athletes and games to mask repression and authoritarian rule by “laundering” the image of a country.
-www.cbsnews.com, 12 December 2024
Arno's Commentary
FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) was founded in Paris by Robert Guérin in 1904, and is now headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland.
Football (soccer) is by far the most popular sport on planet earth.
FIFA is well-established and governed by rules and regulations. However, where Saudi Arabia is concerned, the riches of the country have caused them to achieve status as a “sports machine,” being a massive investor in global sports.
Saudia Arabia is an important link between the West and the Middle East. The Saudis desperately try to picture themselves as a liberal, free society, but obviously, they are not. The US State Department documents: “The laws and policies restrict religious freedom, and in practice, the government generally enforced these restrictions. Freedom of religion is neither recognized nor protected under the law and is severely restricted in practice. The country is an Islamic state governed by a monarchy; the king is head of both state and government.”
While Pew Research (in 2018) states that 4.4% of the almost 6 million residents practice the Christian religion, one must mention that most of them are “foreign workers,” mainly from Southeast Asia.
Officially, the Christian religion is only somewhat tolerated, but there is little to no question that the Church of Jesus Christ is being built in that country as well.
In this report, we are reminded of the words of 1 Timothy 6:10a: “For the love of money is the root of all evil.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
