The World Cup knockout stage is here, and billions have already tuned in to the biggest event on earth. They’ve been inundated with advertising for Aramco, during much criticised advertising breaks, while Gianni Infantino has polluted his way around North America follow his expanded mega-tournament. 

Below, we offer our thoughts on some of the key (climate) stories that have played out in the opening weeks of the tournament. 

Key Stories of Interest: 

• The FIFA President’s viral private jet flights (which he takes in a plane loaned to him by the Qatari government)
• Backlash against FIFA’s new “hydration” (ad) breaks which don’t protect player welfare
• Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company is the biggest sponsor of the tournament and sponsors the ‘Young Player of the Tournament Award’ 

Comment: Gianni Infantino’s Private Jet Flying

Frank Huisingh, founder / director at fan climate campaign group Fossil Free Football said:
“Infantino’s World Cup expansion and choice of the world’s biggest oil company as major sponsor make this the most polluting World Cup ever. Now, as players and supporters struggle through extreme heat and flooding storms , his Qatari private jet takes him from VIP box to VIP box as he watches multiple matches a day across his bloated tournament. There could be no more perfect metaphor for his wilful blindness to the climate threats facing football and its fans”

Comment: Backlash against FIFA’s new “hydration” (ad) breaks

Frank Huisingh, founder / director at fan climate campaign group Fossil Free Football said:
“Fans are booing the water breaks because they know that they’re just another of Gianni Infantino’s attempts to squeeze every last drop of cash out of the sport. These ad breaks are not about player safety. If they were, FIFA would listen to the experts and postpone matches in dangerously hot conditions. Instead, they listen to their fossil fuel industry sponsors, such as Aramco and Qatar Airways, and their political friends, like Donald Trump and Mohamed Bin Salman. FIFA sold their huge platform to the world’s biggest oil company, Aramco, to sportswash its pollution and get access to decision-makers. So with players and fans facing fossil-fuelled extreme weather, the most polluting World Cup ever is drowning in Aramco advertising, while Gianni Infantino flies from VIP-box to VIP-box in his Qatar Airways private jet.”   

Comment: Aramco Sponsoring Young Player Award

Frank Huisingh, founder / director at fan climate campaign group Fossil Free Football said:
“Lamine Yamal is the favourite to win FIFA’s Young Player Award, which is sponsored by the world’s biggest oil company, Aramco.  Aramco doesn’t want us thinking about their fossil fuels causing record heat, failed harvests and deadly flooding. Instead, they’re associating their brand with the joy of football; using teenagers to sell more oil. Lamine Yamal is from Spain, where heat is killing people right now. His parents are from Larache in Morocco, where floods just forced 50,000 to evacuate, and Bata in Equatorial Guinea, which is threatened by landslides, rising sea levels and floods. Just as big tobacco once used children and athletes to sell cigarettes, now FIFA and Aramco are using young World Cup stars to promote oil, despite the obvious dangerous impacts for ordinary fans and players everywhere. This is outrageous and has to stop”. 

(Lamine Yamal is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, in his role he “will focus on children’s right to play and supporting children living in humanitarian emergencies, such as conflict or natural disasters”).

Other resources:

• Fossil Free Football factsheets: World Cup and Aramco
• Cool Down Network media briefing

For clarification or interview:
frank@fossilfreefootball.org, +31 6 46998442.