Saudi Arabia is not going to be a sponsor on the Women’s World Cup later this yr in Australia and New Zealand, however FIFA president Gianni Infantino has not dominated out future industrial alternatives for the Gulf nation in girls’s soccer.
The Saudi Arabian Tourism Board was touted as a doable sponsor of the expanded 32-team event, prompting sharp criticism from a number of quarters, although Infantino says it’s all a “storm in a tea cup”.
The largest outcry got here from Football Australia, which mentioned there was “an overwhelming consensus that this partnership does not align with our collective vision for the tournament and falls short of our expectations”.
Other distinguished figures within the girls’s sport additionally criticized the plan, together with veteran US ahead Alex Morgan, who mentioned it didn’t make sense ‘morally’.
“There have been discussions with the Saudi go to, however ultimately they didn’t result in a contract. So it was a storm within the tea cup.
“But having mentioned that, FIFA is a company made up of 211 international locations. There is nothing flawed in looking for sponsorship from Saudi Arabia, China, the United States, Brazil or India.
Infantino mentioned critics of the potential sponsorship neglected pre-existing industrial preparations between the businesses in Saudi Arabia and Australia.
“When it comes to Australia, they trade with Saudi Arabia for $1.5 billion a year. Doesn’t seem like a problem?”
“There’s a double normal that I do not actually perceive. No drawback, no contract, however after all we wish to see how we deal with the Saudi sponsors in girls’s soccer and the Qataris basically can embrace.
“This yr we can have the Women’s World Cup. It needs to be a celebration of girls, it needs to be. And but it is the negativity that all the time comes out. Why so? Why cannot we make just a little effort to give attention to the constructive.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has launched reforms lately permitting girls extra management over their lives, however males nonetheless keep a robust grip on energy within the kingdom.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
