Inside Saudi Arabia’s Sports Strategy: Investing in Transformation and the 2030 World Cup

First Ronaldo, then the golf tour, now one footballer after the other: Saudi Arabia is serious about its sports strategy and is flooding the market with money. The goal: nothing less than the transformation of the state – and the 2030 World Cup.

Sport is healthy. And public health would be paramount in a country where the majority of the population is overweight and has the seventh highest rate of diabetes in the world. But what does a country create when it absorbs the finest pieces of global top-class sport, from football to professional golf tours? A motivational aid for more physical exercise – or just more, highly exclusive entertainment?