Climate activists are planning protests Sunday against FIFA’s sponsorship deal with Saudi state-owned oil and gas giant Aramco at World Cup sites and fan zones across the country.
Organizer Zan Dubin told POLITICO the protests are aimed at pressuring FIFA to drop Aramco while calling attention to the way oil company advertising becomes part of fans’ World Cup memories, a practice she called “sportswashing,” even as greenhouse gas emissions from oil use drive global temperatures higher.
The main action is set to take place outside Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium ahead of the Belgium-Iran match there. The protest represents an extension of a crosstown campaign known as Dodger Fans Against Fossil Fuels, a Los Angeles-based campaign that has gathered nearly 30,000 signatures urging Dodgers owner Mark Walter to drop oil company Phillips 66.
FIFA announced Aramco as a major worldwide partner in 2024, giving the company sponsorship rights across several tournaments, including the 2026 Men’s World Cup and the 2027 Women’s World Cup. The deal drew pushback from climate and human rights groups, and more than 100 professional women’s soccer players later urged FIFA to drop it. Aramco’s logo appears prominently in stadiums and on global match broadcasts.
The Los Angeles protest is being organized by a local chapter of the Sierra Club and Third Act SoCal and is expected to include Extinction Rebellion Lamenters, street-theater demonstrators dressed in sackcloth. Dubin said she was also in touch with protesters planning to show up at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami before a match there, as well as at fan sites in New Jersey, Seattle and Dallas.