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23-06-2026
LOS ANGELES: 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 “sports-washing,” even as greenhouse gas emissions from oil use drive global temperatures higher.
The main action is set to take place outside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles 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.
Two of Sunday’s protests will be held outside World Cup matches at SoFi stadium in Los Angeles and Hard Rock stadium in Miami. Organizers are also planning demonstrations near three other 2026 World Cup venues in New Jersey, Seattle and Dallas. 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”. On its website, the firm also says: “This partnership aligns with our goal of providing reliable energy to communities around the world and inspire progress both on the pitch and in society as a whole.”
Sunday’s day of action will focus on not only FIFA, but also other sports organizations with fossil fuel-linked sponsors. In Los Angeles, California, and Cleveland, Ohio, for instance, demonstrators will demand local Major League Baseball teams cut ties with Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum, respectively and in Portland, protesters will call for the Portland Timbers, a Major League Soccer team, to end their sponsorship deal with Bank of America, a top financier of fossil fuel projects around the world.
Participants will include members of local chapters of the national environmental non-profit Sierra Club, senior-led climate advocacy group Third Act and environmental justice organization Hip Hop Caucus.
The protests come as experts warn that this year’s tournament will probably be the hottest since the competition began nearly a century ago. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
