Human rights advocates have condemned the decision to allow Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority to sponsor the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, calling it a “textbook case of sportswashing”.

Visit Saudi is set to join international brands such as Adidas, Coca-Cola and Visa in attaching their names to the 32-team tournament that is due to kick off on 20 July at Auckland’s Eden Park.

Despite Saudi Arabia’s history of oppressing women’s rights, Fifa has decided to ratify the deal under the new “commercial partnership structure” dedicated to developing revenues specifically for the women’s game. But the announcement has sparked criticism from human rights groups in Australia...

The director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, Minky Worden, said the decision showed a “shocking disregard” for the status of women in Saudi Arabia.

“It is a shocking disregard of the suffering and ongoing repression of courageous women’s rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, to award the Saudi state tourism company sponsorship of the 2023 Women’s World Cup,” Worden said.