The Saudi Pro League’s moves are just one part of a multi-billion dollar push into global sports. It is backed by Muhammad bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler
But this season may be different. Mr Hamdallah’s team, Al Ittihad, has just signed Karim Benzema, winner of the 2022 Ballon d’Or award for best player in the world, from Real Madrid, and N’Golo Kante, a star midfielder from Chelsea. Cristiano Ronaldo, a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, moved to Al Nassr, another Saudi club, in January from Manchester United. Former Liverpool winger, Sadio Mané, joined him there, while Liverpool’s captain, Jordan Henderson, signed for Al Ettifaq.
Many observers believe the moves will change not just Saudi Arabia, but global sport itself, wresting the initiative from stuffy Western guardians of teams and tournaments and introducing a dynamic new force. The spending has been going on for several years but until recently its full scope was obscured by a scatter-gun approach.
Saudis have watched as their neighbours have stepped up. The race began in 1993, says Danyel Reiche of Georgetown University in Qatar. That was when Qatar first hosted anmen’s tennis tournament . It spent $200bn preparing to host the 2022 World Cup. One of its royals also owns Paris St Germain, a top French club. Manchester City, owned by an Abu Dhabi royal, is now the world’s most valuable football brand.
A better brand and more events can boost the tourism sector, which the government hopes will increase from 3% ofin 2019 to 10% in 2030. When you want to become a holiday hotspot, star-power helps: Lionel Messi, perhaps football’s greatest player, is a Saudi tourism ambassador and posts sun-drenched snaps to his 482m followers on Instagram.
Still, within Saudi Arabia, sport is a state-backed, rather than an entrepreneurial, concern, with the problems that can entail. In June some top football clubs, previously under the control of the Ministry of Sports, were notionally privatised. But, a metropolis being built in the desert, has one in the second division, too. “It’s almost like football clubs have become quangos in Saudi Arabia,” says Simon Chadwick of Skema Business School in Paris.
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