FIFA, Formula 1, ICC Under Fire For Aramco Sponsorships

Six of the world’s largest sports organizations — FIFA, Formula 1, the International Cricket Council (ICC), Concacaf, Aston Martin Aramco Formula One Team, and ASO, the organizer of the Dakar Rally — are being scrutinized for their sponsorship agreements with Saudi oil company Aramco.

A coalition of professional athletes and ten human rights and climate organizations sent each of the sports organizations a letter, notifying them that their sponsorship agreements with Aramco “may place them in breach of international human rights standards.”

This warning is based on a 2023 United Nations communication, which states that “Saudi Aramco’s business activities appear to be contrary to the goals, obligations and commitments under the Paris Agreement on climate change and which are adversely impacting the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change.”

The letters, which were shared with me, also ask each organization to justify its partnerships with Aramco, given the oil major’s ongoing contribution to the climate crisis as determined by the United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

Specifically, the coalition is demanding to know if these sports organizations have taken action with Aramco to address the UN’s climate concerns, and if they have processes in place to review and potentially end their sponsorship agreements with Aramco.

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The coalition that sent the letters on September 15th includes Human Rights Watch, British nonprofit FairSquare, Saudi organization ALQST, and Middle East Democracy Center. None of the sporting entities responded to these letters, nor did they respond to my requests for comment from them.

Aramco’s sports sponsorships are being challenged just as data has been published showing that major cities around the world have seen a 25% increase in extremely hot days in the last four decades due to climate change. The scrutiny also comes hot on the heels of Pope Leo XIV’s condemnation of climate change critics.

Aramco’s Controversial Sports Sponsorships

By partnering with the largest state-run oil company in the world, sports entities are providing a positive platform to a fossil fuel company that is actively resisting the energy transition. Moreover, by accepting Aramco’s money, FIFA, Formula 1, and co. are complicit in undermining international agreements on climate change and human rights.

Aramco has not responded to the United Nations’ concerns or questions since the 2023 declaration and has since become the title sponsor for Aston Martin’s Formula One team. The state oil company also extended its longstanding title and race sponsorship of Formula One, signed a multi-year partnership with Concacaf, a $100 million per-year deal with FIFA, and last year announced a four-year extension of its global rights partnership with the ICC through 2027.

Aramco’s continued investments in sports suggest perceived benefits in partnering with the industry. Upon extending its agreement with the ICC, Khalid A. Al-Zamil, Aramco Vice President of Public Affairs, made it clear that the partnership was maintained so that Aramco could use the power of sport to its benefit.

Al-Zamil stated, “Cricket transcends boundaries, uniting millions around the globe, similar to Aramco’s commitment to fostering collaboration and excellence. We aim to continue supporting the growth of cricket through our key assets and bringing people together through the spirit of sport.”

James Lynch, the co-director of FairSquare, notes, “While world-leading UN human rights experts have been raising the alarm about the impact of Aramco’s activities on the planet and humans, sports organisations like FIFA, Formula 1 and the ICC are happily taking the company’s money, disregarding not only their much vaunted social responsibility statements but also the future of the sports themselves.”

By sending these letters he hopes to amplify the discussion around Aramco’s sporting sponsorships. Lynch told me, “We want to broaden the conversation beyond football and F1,” adding, “I think cricket has largely escaped any scrutiny.” Aramco’s sponsorship of cricket’s governing body has given it direct access to the South Asian market. Particularly in India’s growing economy, it has been able to foster greater demand for its product.

Danish international midfielder Sofie Junge Pedersen was one of the architects of a 100-plus player women’s soccer campaign that called on FIFA to drop Aramco as a sponsor. FIFA never responded to the questions the campaign put before it, which Pedersen calls “disappointing.” Pedersen says, “We as players are at the forefront of promoting FIFA’s sponsors, so I think it’s fair that we want to know what the considerations are behind these sponsorship decisions.”

After several seasons in Italy, the Danish international is now plying her trade in Spain, but her change of country has not lessened her stance in any way. Pedersen says, “We must continue advocating for FIFA to drop Aramco. We need to keep putting focus on the human rights violations committed by the Saudi State on its own people and the harm that Aramco causes to the planet, and that it’s not phasing out its fossil fuel production but is actually expanding it. It’s important that we make it clear that many players care about what the power of football is used for.”

FIFA and Formula One are both signatories of the UNFCCC Sport for Climate Action Framework, and have committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040. Their partnerships with Aramco are in direct opposition to these goals. Furthermore, these sponsorships demand that we ask if these commitments were ever real or just lip service.

Pedersen says, “When choosing Aramco as a sponsor, FIFA chooses to use football’s enormous and powerful platform to promote Aramco and thereby legitimize what it stands for...I don’t think FIFA has done well here and has acted as a legitimate governing body. FIFA put economic gains above the need to protect human rights and the need to mitigate climate change.”

Saudi Aramco

Aramco is the world’s largest state-owned oil company. It was responsible for just over 4% of global CO2 emissions in 2023. 98.5% of Aramco’s shares are owned by the government, and it provides the majority of the revenue to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has been investing in global sports, most notably through the acquisition of Newcastle United and the creation of LIV Golf.

In Aramco’s latest annual report, the state-oil company laid bare its commitment to expanding oil production, stating, “Aramco intends to maintain its position as the world’s largest crude oil company by production volume.”

A year prior, Aramco’s CEO took the stage at the annual CERAWeek global energy conference in Houston and stated, “We should abandon the fantasy of phasing out oil and gas and instead invest in them adequately reflecting realistic demand assumptions.”

In the face of global calls for divestment in fossil fuels, Aramco has invested nearly $200 million in advertising space to manage its reputation and over $1.3 billion in sponsorships. It is expected to be the lead sponsor for the 2026 and 2027 FIFA World Cups and the 2026 T20 Cricket World Cup.

The money these organizations are accepting from Aramco is fueling their own demise as climate creates increasingly hazardous performance conditions.

Dr. Maryam Aldossari, an academic at Royal Holloway and an ALQST board member, says, “Sportswashing is the regime’s most effective PR weapon. It lets them bury mass arrests, surveillance, and executions under stadium lights and sponsorship logos. When organisations like FIFA, Formula 1, or the UFC take Saudi money, they’re not just selling ad space, they’re laundering the image of an authoritarian state.”

“These sponsorship deals don’t stop because regimes feel shame; they stop when institutions are forced to choose between their ethics and their income. The same pressure that helped isolate apartheid South Africa applies here: cut the sponsorships, refuse the money, and stop turning sport into a billboard for authoritarian power. The first step is to end the pretence that this is harmless branding.”

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