Saudi Arabia fans watch their team in action against Argentina at Lusail Stadium during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. | Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

In less than three months, Saudi Arabia’s slam-dunk bid to host the world’s most popular sports event will be signed off. As the sole bidder for the 2034 FIFA World Cup, Saudi’s success at a virtual FIFA Congress to be held on December 11 promises to be a formality.

Already, those raising the thorny topic of how the Gulf kingdom treats LGBTQ people and what that might mean for the tournament are being tolerated or ignored.

Even more than for Qatar 2022, this is an exercise in burying your head in the sand. You can expect them to get away with it.

That’s the impression you get from listening to the first TV interview given by the man heading up the Saudi 2034 bid, Hammad Albalawi.

Asked by British broadcaster Sky Sports what his message would be to LGBTQ fans concerned about traveling to a country where homosexuality is criminalized, Albalawi said: “We welcome all fans. We respect the privacy of all of our guests.”

He continued: “People need to educate themselves about the kingdom and the best way to do that is to come and visit.”

Pressed on what he might say to an LGBTQ person who doesn’t want to visit a country which restricts freedom of expression, Albalawi replied: “You’ll be respected, you’ll be welcomed in Saudi Arabia.”

The Qataris honed this technique two years ago, often helped by reporters framing their questions with a narrow focus. Gay fans are told they will have a great time, just so long as they keep their sexuality to themselves.

Note how Albalawi does not need to use the initialism LGBTQ or the words within it. There is no mention of players, coaches, match officials, support staff, media, hospitality, VIPs or any other of the roles you’d find people in at a World Cup.

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Even more crucially, there is no suggestion that LGBTQ fans may already be living in Saudi Arabia. This is much more pertinent than was the case in Qatar, where only around 300,000 people in a population of 3 million are citizens (the rest being migrants or ex-pats). In Saudi, the number of nationals is just under 19 million.

It turned out that characterizing LGBTQ people as foreigners who had no real influence on the tournament whether they attended or not was relatively simple in 2022. 

Those that did turn up in Qatar either took the “don’t ask, don’t tell” approach, as instructed by their hosts, or they tried to represent through their choice of clothing, the flags they carried, interviews with the media, or on social media.

Hats, T-shirts and banners featuring rainbows and the like were in the most part covered up or removed by security officials. Meanwhile, visitors were naturally hypercautious about their activity online.

Throw in the OneLove armband ban, and it felt like mission accomplished for the Qataris in their quest to erase the LGBTQ community from its World Cup as much as possible.

There is still a decade to go before Saudi Arabia gets its turn but Albalawi and his colleagues are already setting out their stall.

As the sole bidder for 2034, there is no pressure on the Saudis to offer human rights assurances. Consequently, you will find next to no detail on this in their bid book released eight weeks ago.

“The bid’s human rights plan simply ignores many of the enormous risks associated with hosting a mega sporting event in a country with such an atrocious human rights record,” said Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International’s Head of Labour Rights and Sport.

Amnesty also studied the “context assessment” that was independently authored by Saudi Arabia-based joint venture law firm AS&H Clifford Chance. They found the analysis contained “no mention of a wide range of human rights issues, including the prohibition on trade unions, clampdown on freedom of expression, widely documented practices of forced evictions or the criminalization of same-sex acts.”

The avoidance of detail here hints at the high-stakes World Cup game that Saudi is prepared to play, having been encouraged by the outcomes of Qatar 2022 and of course, by FIFA.

The kingdom has one of the world’s youngest populations, with approximately half aged under 25. Albalawi referred to this in his interview, when asked about the appeal of hosting a mega-sports event.

“We are doing this for the growth of our people,” he said. “We’re a young nation seizing this opportunity and making the best out of it.”

Saudi youth want more out of life, and the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is prepared to provide that in ways that work well for the regime — employment options, music and entertainment, and sports events.

But this is not a cultural revolution. Tight reins on society are maintained through surveillance and the threat of jail or worse for dissent or rule-breaking. Talk of sexuality or gender identity is still taboo.

Albalawi is happy to go along with the idea that LGBTQ people are external to Saudi. It’s even better for him when they are made out to be just fans and therefore non-essential to FIFA’s most money-spinning tournament, a behemoth expanding to 48 nations and all that entails.

There will be tougher interviews to come for the bid chief but he’ll surely stick to the same script.

“This isn’t about making things up or creating headlines,” he added. “This is real, this is a Saudi Arabia that’s very much loving the game of football and has always loved the game of football.”

And the gay people who play, coach, referee or watch it? In 2034, as it was in 2022, theirs will be the love that dare not speak its name.

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