Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn have voiced their concerns over the prospect of Saudi Arabia’s tourist board, Visit Saudi, being announced as a sponsor of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The USWNT duo have joined multiple figures — including the federations of Australia and New Zealand, team-mate Alex Morgan, and Chelsea boss Emma Hayes — in stating their disapproval about the sponsorship.
Rapinoe and Sauerbrunn, speaking to media before practice in Orlando as the team prepares for the SheBelieves Cup, added their voices to the concerns given Saudi Arabia’s record on women’s rights and concerns that Visit Saudi’s buy-in and Saudi Arabia’s recent hosting of a four-team women’s tournament amount to sportswashing.
Rapinoe said on Wednesday: “I think (the sponsorship is) totally inappropriate. If they want to do, like, a 20-year-long women’s empowerment project and in 2043 sponsor a World Cup, that would be something. But I think it kind of just further proves the corruption and the thought process of FIFA.
“If they thought for one second that this would be a good sponsor for women’s tournaments, outrageous. I think Alex said the other day, like Alex Morgan couldn’t exist in Saudi Arabia, the way that she does in America and…
