Ex-U.S. Captain Becky Sauerbrunn, Canadian Star Jessie Fleming Join 100 Female Soccer Players Calling For FIFA To Drop Saudi Aramco Deal
deadline.comMore than 100 professional female soccer players have signed an open letter calling for FIFA to drop a sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabian oil conglomerate Aramco saying the deal was an insult to women’s football. “For most of our time as professional players, it has felt like things are improving for women in football.
For many, our experience now is unrecognisable from that of the women who came before us,” read the letter. “But FIFA’s announcement of Saudi Aramco as its ‘major’ partner has set us so far back that it’s hard to fully take in,” it continued. “Saudi Aramco is the main money-pump for Saudi Arabia, and is 98.5 % state-owned.
Saudi authorities have been spending billions in sports sponsorship to try to distract from the regime’s brutal human rights reputation, but its treatment of women speaks for itself.” FIFA and ARAMCO announced the partnership in April 2024.
The oil company also has sponsorship deals with Formula One motor-racing, and the Ladies European Tour golf championship among other sports.
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