Saudi Arabia makes significant investments in sports to improve its image.
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| Cristiano Ronaldo, currently playing for Saudi football club Al-Nassr |
Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid won the FIFA Club World Cup, Spanish League, and Champions League in 2017. That season, the Royals won 40 straight games. CR7 is at the top of its game after winning the European Football Championship in France a year ago. Given these triumphs, it seems improbable that the Portuguese superstar ever gave Saudi Arabia a thought.
Mohammed bin Salman, also known as "MBS," is named Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in the same year. With the never-ending Public Investment Fund (PIF), a sovereign wealth fund of the kingdom, the 37-year-old is now one of the most powerful men on the planet and is poised to reshape his nation and the world of sport forever. MBS is regarded by experts in the nation as crafty, power-hungry, uncompromising - and intelligent. He has also served as prime minister since 2022.
As a child and teenager, he not only loved American fast food, but also the stories of Alexander the Great or influential moguls like Bill Gates or Tim Cook. And computer games. Especially the strategy game Age of Empires. From an early age, MBS engages in power games within the kingdom, learning by beating his father, King Salman.
The current crown prince began consulting with experts in economics and law in 2011 to develop his tactics, which eventually led to Vision 2030, a plan to modernize and open up Saudi Arabia to the West and to achieve economic independence from oil in under two decades.
But the PIF should only be about 600 billion euros, and this oil is the major cause of it. And this indicates that Saudi Arabia is capturing the attention of European football's leagues and tournaments more and more. Because a transformation that sport never anticipated is a component of Vision 2030. The PIF is also a major investor in tech and cultural businesses. However, it appears that a new investment firm focused solely on sports enterprises is the next stage in Saudi Arabia's ambitious global sports agenda.
Saudi Arabia is simply the most recent example of a Gulf country investing in sports. Since 2004, Formula 1 has been a visitor in Bahrain. In 2005, Roger Federer and Andre Agassi engaged in a display match at a height of nearly 300 meters atop the Burj Al Arab, and that's when the plot really began to gather up. It peaked in its early stages during the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
After much waiting, the kingdom finally began to open up under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He's serious, though. The crucial event occurred more than three years ago. The heavyweight boxing title match between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz Jr. in December 2019 was the first time Saudi Arabia was shown in a positive light via sportswashing. Everything was outlined in this conflict: the triumphal pictures, the wealth, and the purging of those who tossed millions around. The Brit defended his championship down below, and MBS surveyed the audience from above. It was just a year ago when publicist Jamal Khashoggi was killed, and it is believed that bin Salman ordered it.
Of course, the PIF does not just focus on football, nor will the multibillion dollar corporation eventually established particularly for this reason. The omnipotence dreams of MBS are too vivid for that. Saudi Arabia invested at least $2 billion in the Golf Tour LIV, which has now joined with the PGA Tour following a protracted legal battle.
Golf as a sport basically now belongs to the Kingdom. Additionally, the PIF has a 16.7% share in the Aston Martin F1 team, and the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has been a Formula 1 race since 2021. The list includes eSports, snooker, and horseback riding.
Tennis and cycling come next. Since 2022, Saudi Arabia has organized a professional cycling competition with Tour de France organizer ASO, and the nation now aims to have a professional team. Of course, not just any. The finest team in the world, Jumbo-Visma, with Wout van Aert, Primo Rogli, and Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard in 2022. The Saudi urban development project Neom City, a desert megacity now under construction where residents who refuse to leave their homes are punished to death, is expected to sponsor the squad the following year.
Saudi authorities are already in contact with the ATP and WTA regarding tennis; both the men's and women's tours are eager to collaborate.
The need to amuse the masses is a component of the national plan. Cost what you will. The young population of the nation, which is 70% under 35, is event-hungry. A certain social contract exists. When requested, Ronaldo is provided. She responds by remaining composed, resisting neither nor rebelling. After all, the 2011 Arab Spring continues to exist and poses a systemic threat.
Football was just recently found there, but the kingdom's buildings have expanded. There is a history with football. In addition, it meant that Saudi Arabia was still the only country competing in the World Cup in Qatar to have defeated Argentina in the tense Lusail. The final stadium was packed nearly entirely with Saudis, which demonstrated the level of fervor Saudis have for the sport. The rest of the competition also demonstrated how highly Ronaldo is held in the Gulf.
Ronaldo joined to al-Nassr FC in January 2023, despite not having any thoughts of Saudi Arabia in 2017. This was after the World Cup in Qatar. Following Argentina's triumph, The Kingdom sent the following shockwave through the football globe. MBS massaged his palms. An estimated 200 million euros are made annually by the Portuguese. Every day, around 550,000. The PIF recently revealed that it will be taking over the club of the illustrious striker as well as three other Saudi league clubs, which is only fitting.
The Saudi Professional League, which was established in 1975, is exempt from the financial fair play regulations that govern European football, enabling teams to spend as much money as they like on personnel and pay.
Ronaldo is only the first component of the puzzle. Soccer players are following the allure of the cash this summer in droves. Not all of them, unlike the 38-year-old Ronaldo, are in the latter stages of their professional lives. The Bundesliga can no longer compete in terms of star power. The most recent surprise, even if it no longer really is: Superstar Roberto Firmino travels to Saudi Arabia. With German coach Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, the 31-year-old Brazilian won the English title and the Champions League.
Earlier, there was a commotion about Karim Benzema's move from Real Madrid to al-Ittihad FC. The 35-year-old Frenchman would have earned a spot at a number of elite European teams as one of the finest attackers in the world.
Not only that, but the next elite European athlete to relocate to the Arabian Peninsula was Marcelo Brozovic, a Croatian international. N'Golo Kanté, the global champion in 2018 and the winner of the French Champions League in 2021, had previously accompanied Benzema to Ittihad. Along with Kalidou Koulibaly, the captain of Senegal, Edouard Mendy, the FIFA World Goalkeeper of the Year for 2021, and Ruben Neves, a Portugal international, joined al-Hilal.
Of course, not everyone is drawn in by the promise of oil wealth. However, Saudi football's criticism of the English Premier League, which produces the majority of the new arrivals, has more truth than China's did a few years ago. Saudi Arabia depends on well-known figures as well as slowly on intellect and information.
The monarchy desires to monopolize football. Even the Champions League will be a part of it starting with the venerable English team Newcastle United, which the PIF purchased. The premier league, the most prosperous club league in the world, is attacked. The kingdom has already been responsible for two attacks on the Champions League, according to "The Independent." Saudi Arabia is rumored to have given the funding for a new FIFA Club World Cup in 2020. have participated in the Super League.
That's not all, though. In order to drain some of the water from some European leagues, the Saudi Pro League should grow to be one of the largest leagues in the world and, ideally, be represented by teams in a newly established, then worldwide Super League. From the viewpoint of the rest of the globe, what appears absurd to the old continent is not.
Not even for FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who likes to surround himself with Saudi leaders and travels to Riyadh both privately and officially, where he is a regular guest. Already there is wild speculation that one of the targets is FIFA itself. It is slated to relocate its headquarters to the kingdom at some point. The road is long, but the 2034 World Cup, which may again be held in the desert, would be an appropriate date for a transfer of power.
That's not all, though. In order to drain some of the water from some European leagues, the Saudi Pro League should grow to be one of the largest leagues in the world and, ideally, be represented by teams in a newly established, then worldwide Super League. From the viewpoint of the rest of the globe, what appears absurd to the old continent is not.
The most popular sport in the world is football. It spreads over the whole population, spanning continents as well as one's own. One can wonder if a match in the Saudi Super League is potentially more interesting than, say, a match in the German Bundesliga in this nation. Darmstadt vs. Augsburg or Ronaldo vs. Benzema? This question, which is essentially rhetorical in nature, directly affects the German top league's already lax international marketing.
To flourish and improve its own nation, Saudi Arabia is embracing the sporting globe. While entertainment will always be available, fossil fuels will eventually run out. The finest type of entertainment is sports. It never becomes dull since it always tells fresh tales and develops fresh symbols. The bet is successful. With all the money coming from the Gulf States, Europe has long lacked a response. All other sports, including football, will remain on the old Continent, but they will need to recreate themselves and revert to traditional morals. if he doesn't want Saudi Arabia to take over the world.
Authors: David Needy and Stephen Uersfeld
Source: IPG