Saudi Arabia invests billions of dollars in sports, including football, Formula One, golf, and boxing. It alters the system and has long been associated with more than just sports cleaning.
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| Cristiano Ronaldo in Saudi Football club Al Nassr |
March 8th, Munich-Fröttmaning. FC Bayern has just defeated Paris St-Germain 2-0, and Lionel Messi has been ousted from the Champions League for the second time. Soccer player Lionel Messi. It implies more time for business meetings for Lionel Messi.
There is a good three-quarters of an hour between the last whistle of the game and the posting of a message on the website of "Arab News," which was launched in 1975 as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's first English-language daily. "Messi visits Saudi Arabia this month," says the headline. "Welcome our Tourism Ambassador and star Lionel Messi and his family and friends this month on his second visit to Saudi, where he will see the greatest tourist attractions, engage with people, and have a unique experience," said the Saudi Minister of Tourism.
Perhaps Messi will visit more frequently. And stay for a longer period of time. Al-Hilal, the country's most popular team based in Riyadh, is rumored to be interested in signing the Argentine for the upcoming season. The frequency with which advertising reports become public is growing. That ought to be worthwhile. Cristiano Ronaldo will be paid the equivalent of roughly 500 million euros by Al-Nassr by the summer of 2025, according to reports.
Because of the purchasing power, Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince and de facto ruler of the kingdom, can scarcely move. Aramco, the national oil corporation, has declared a record profit of 161 billion dollars (151 billion euros). Never before has an oil corporation generated more money in a single year. The previous quarter's payout of roughly 19.5 billion dollars (18.3 billion euros) goes mostly into state coffers because Saudi Arabia is the Saudi group's largest shareholder. There should be enough money now to invest on huge events and celebrities.
Sport is part of his Agenda 2030, a reform initiative that is a top goal for the ambitious heir to the throne: he wants to rebuild the Saudi economy, and his nation should be self-sufficient in terms of oil income.
And since MBS has a habit of thinking in massive categories. With Neom, he plans to construct a future megacity worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The most recent project is the construction of the world's biggest cube on the capital's northwestern outskirts. A consumer-oriented monster dubbed Mukaab, inside which twenty times the Empire State Building from New York should fit and from which virtual Mars missions should begin, among other things. According to Saudi desire, it should become a new monument, similar to the Eiffel Tower.
The importance of structures is not necessarily decided by the constructors. In athletic events, you get ahead by believing that practically everything and almost everyone can be purchased, maybe farther. Where else except athletic events can the Arab Gulf States learn that it all comes down to money in the end?
The Saudis invest in a variety of sports, including boxing, Formula One, soccer, and golf. There are certain self-created hazards. Since 2021, MBS's state investment vehicle PIF has been the primary stakeholder of Premier League team Newcastle United. Since then, its kickers have worn the Saudi national colors of green and white on occasion. The Premier League was told prior to the takeover that the fund would operate independently of the Saudi government. The league was willing to believe it.
Simultaneously, the PIF funds the LIV golf series. An assault against the well-established PGA. You have a court hearing in the United States. There, Saudi attorneys confirmed that the PIF was "part of a foreign government" and that Yasir Al-Rumayyan, chairman of Newcastle United and the PIF's governor-appointed managing director, was a government minister. On the occasion of the Newcastle purchase, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters stated that if it was discovered that the Saudi state controlled the club, the league would be able to oust the consortium of owners. A threat expressed in the subjunctive.
Soccer World Cup 2030 in Saudi Arabia?
The strategy's pinnacle would be the World Cup in your own country. For months, there has been speculation of a combined bid for the 2030 event with Egypt and Greece, though it would most likely be a Saudi World Cup. According to Politico, the Saudis told the Egyptians and Greeks that new stadiums would be built provided three-quarters of the tournament was played in the crown prince's domain. But, no formal application has been received for the event, which will be awarded next year. Yet a lever for greater influence cannot yet be pulled.
Gianni Infantino, the president of the international football association FIFA, said on Thursday in Rwanda that the planned sponsorship of the women's World Cup, which will be held in Australia and New Zealand in the summer, will not come to fruition. The intended deal had caused outrage in the host countries. Infantino accused the Oceanians, outraged by the potent potential sponsor, of double standards, after all Australian companies would also make money in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia must be given the opportunity to sponsor women. It sounded as if Infantino wanted to prepare for the day after the final whistle of the World Cup.
In any case, the Saudi self-confidence is currently as high as the oil revenues. Most recently, the Saudi ambassador to the United States published an opinion piece that countered the accusation that the leadership was concerned with sports washing and image cultivation: "Saudi sports investments are about us, not how others see us."
It is partially correct. The money thrown into the World Cup and PSG is also an investment in Qatar's own visibility, which it needs to defend from powerful neighbors such as Saudi Arabia. The kingdom need less, even though it stings the crown prince that he has been pushed into the world filthy corner following the horrible death of his critic Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Rather, it is about developing the monarchy as a tourism attraction beyond the floods of tourists to Islamic holy sites. In addition, unlike other Gulf competitors, the Kingdom possesses one of the region's largest domestic marketplaces.About 70 percent of the more than 35 million Saudis are under the age of 35. They are grateful that MBS overthrew the arch-conservative Wahhabi religious scholars, who had tied their everyday life into a tight corset of backward modesty, for its reform agenda. And the Crown Prince wants them to be able to enjoy themselves. You can't just criticize him. Most wouldn't even think of that. Opening up society with a crowbar is more important to them than frustration with political repression.
Auto racing plays a big role in strategy. Because the Saudis don't start at the bottom, they got in at the top. Formula 1 has been back on the street circuit in Jeddah since Friday, and on Sunday (6:00 p.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for Formula 1 and on Sky) it’s all about the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. On Thursday, her management could not be elicited whether the racing circus was happy to come. The management always avoids questions about the instrumentalization of the big break, most recently at the start of the season in Bahrain. If it answers at all, then with a rhetorical question: Why shouldn't Formula 1 be allowed to do what the economy takes for granted? Give and collect.
In this situation, the deadweight impact is bigger than at any other station: Grand Prix organizers must transfer an average of $25 million (23.4 million euros) to Formula 1. You spend twice as much if you buy the season's premiere or finale. According to an insider, Saudi Arabia has increased the stakes to more than $50 million (46.9 million euros). The funds are provided by the state treasury. Aramco is not just a domestic race sponsor, but it also appears in Formula 1's global perimeter advertising package. No big athletic event may be watched so frequently on a globe tour in 2023, from March to the end of November across 23 stations.
An offer to buy Formula 1, the Saudis would like to add one more, on a permanent circuit near Riyadh. "We wouldn't say no," said Minister of Sport Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal last year. Stefano Domenicali, deputy of the Formula 1 rights owner Liberty Media, is publicly reticent. The journey should not go beyond four stops in Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in view of the enthusiasm of racing teams and pilots. In the predominantly European convoy, the tours are a must.
The news that the Saudis were interested in acquiring the entire Formula 1 from Liberty, which was circulated in autumn 2022, seemed like sprinkling sand in a well-lubricated gearbox. It crunched loudly. $20 billion for a deal said to be worth $16 billion? Formula 1 was halfway denied. For the time being, the money will flow into the series in somewhat smaller streams. The racing team Aston Martin, which got off to a furious start to the season, won Saudia-Air as an additional sponsor just in time for the third appearance of Formula 1 on the Red Sea. Aramco has been emblazoned on the two cars for a long time. And meanwhile inspires man and mouse to refer critics to "sustainability".
Aramco is spearheading the development of the e-fuels to which Formula One has committed. She intends to operate entirely on synthetic fuel by 2026. The F2 and F3 junior series are pioneers. Given that fuel combustion accounts for barely 0.7 percent of Formula One's annual greenhouse gas emissions, this appears to be a PR figure. It is not acceptable to the protagonists. They estimate that by 2030, there will be at least 1.2 billion automobiles with combustion engines, necessitating the development of more ecologically friendly fuel.
"Since 2015, the Saudi Arabian monarchy has murdered over 1,000 individuals, including accused youngsters, pro-democracy protestors, and innocent drug mules," says Maya Foa, director of the Anglo-American charity Reprieve. In the last two weeks, at least 13 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia, including Hussein Abo al-Kheir, a Jordanian father of eight whose case has been addressed by UN specialists and British Lawmakers. Executions on the eve of the Grand Prix are a flagrant demonstration of impunity by Saudi authorities, who feel confident in the sport and its commercial partners' silence."
It was almost like that on Thursday. When a question concerning last year's rocket strike near the circuit impacted on sports circumstances, nine out of ten drivers conveyed the feeling that they were relatively comfortable driving in Jeddah during International Automobile Federation (FIA) news conferences. Only Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton made me sit up and take notice: "Nothing to add, the reverse of what was said."
On the other hand? What exactly does he mean? "Anybody can interpret," continued the seven-time world champion, before going more precise when questioned the third time: "I still feel that when sport travels to countries with human rights concerns like these, sport has a role to raise awareness sharpen to try to make a constructive influence. I have a feeling he needs to do more." The FIA recently took action. She reminded everyone that political speeches, placards, and gestures are not permitted during the race or the awards presentation.
Authors: CHRISTOPH EHRHARDT, CHRISTOPH BECKER and ANNO HECKER