Vivianne Miedema and Niamh Charles are among over 100 professional female football players who have signed a letter of petition for FIFA to end its sponsorship deal with Saudi oil company Aramco.
FIFA has announced Aramco will be a major partner ahead of the men’s 2026 World Cup and Women’s World Cup the following year.
Aramco is the world’s largest state-owned oil and gas company and the petition flags both the impact it has had on the climate crisis as well as “Saudi Arabia’s record of human rights violations against women and other minorities, including the LGBTQIA+ community”, in its complaint against the partnership.
“This letter shows that as players this is what we don’t want to stand for and accept within women’s football,” said Netherlands international and Man City forward Miedema.
“It’s simple: this sponsorship is contradicting FIFA’s own commitments to human rights and the planet.”
You can see the petition letter and read more about the campaign here