Saudi Arabia will respect LGBTQ fans at World Cup

Hammad Albalawi, head of Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid unit, said his country welcomes all visitors, including LGBTQ people, and its bid to host the 48-team showpiece event has nothing to do with "sportswashing" its human rights record.

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Global governing body Fifa limited the 2034 contest to bidders from the Asian and Oceania confederations as Morocco, Portugal and Spain will share the hosting of the 2030 tournament.

The hosts are set to be officially appointed by Fifa in December and Saudi Arabia's bid is almost certain to succeed due to the absence of any other expressions of interest before the deadline in late 2023.

In August, Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia failed to meet Fifa's own human rights requirements in its bid for the 2034 World Cup and called for urgent action to improve the nation's human rights protections.

There are no public advocacy groups for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in the kingdom and while Saudi's state law is uncodified, it is understood by Amnesty that people can be sentenced to death if it is proven they have engaged in same-sex sexual acts.