"Fifa urged to drop Saudi oil giant Aramco as activists target World Cup", 19 June 2026

...As scorching temperatures beat down on World Cup soccer games across North America, climate activists – including former and current professional athletes – are calling for Fifa and other professional sporting organizations to cut ties with the oil and gas industry...

This coming Sunday, protesters will demonstrate at or near five 2026 World Cup stadiums and six other major sporting arenas, chanting and holding signs calling for an end to fossil fuel sponsorships...

The protesters’ key target is Saudi Aramco, the exclusive energy sponsor for this year’s tournament, which is also the world’s largest corporate carbon emitter. Players have for years called on Fifa to drop the company as a sponsor, and in May, a group of health, climate science and sports experts signed an open letter highlighting the organization’s Aramco sponsorship, arguing that the “active promotion” of fossil fuels creates “a conflict of interest with the protection of player welfare”...

Fifa did not respond to a request for comment, but it has defended its Aramco sponsorship amid earlier criticism, saying in 2024 that it “values its partnership with Aramco and its many others commercial and rights partners”.

“Fifa is an inclusive organization with many commercial partners also supporting other organizations in football and other sports,” the spokesperson said at the time. “Sponsorship revenues generated by Fifa are reinvested back into the game at all levels.”

Aramco declined to comment on the protests, but its CEO has said the company’s 2026 World Cup sponsorship helps to “harness the power of sport to make an impact around the globe” and said such sponsorships “create pathways for opportunity, positively impact society and promote development at the grassroots level”...