How the Saudi World Cup bid could backfire on the country looking to clean up its image

Canada's former ambassador to Saudi Arabia says the country will use its World Cup bid to whitewash its record of human rights abuses — but the strategy will backfire. 

The Middle East country was the only football association to present a bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup before the deadline closed, soccer's global governing body said on Tuesday.

Dennis Horak says this is a textbook example of Saudi Arabian "sportswashing" — using sporting events to sanitize its image on the world stage. 

The oil-rich country has an ongoing history of human rights violations, according to Amnesty International, including stifling women's rights, detaining dissidents, torturing and executing prisoners and cracking down on protests. United Nations experts have repeatedly accused the country of violating international law during its nine-year war in Yemen. 

Horak, Canada's former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, was expelled from the country in 2018 after the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh called for the release of detained Saudi women's rights activists. Here is part of his conversation with As It Happens host Nil Köksal. 

How would you describe the fact that Saudi Arabia might get the 2034 World Cup? 

It's consistent with what they've been doing ... in a number of other sports with LIV golf, with their involvement in the English Premier League football. Also, trying to encourage and pay exorbitant amounts of money for internationally known footballers to come play in the Saudi league.

It's also consistent, I think, with a lot of countries when they bid for these kinds of events, whether it's World Cup football or the Olympics — trying to use that as prestige, as a way to show off their country, to encourage tourism, business, what have you.