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Has been playing for Al Nassr in the Saudi league for six months: Cristiano Ronaldo (r). © -/AP/dpa
Saudi Arabia buys billions into football, boxing and e-sports – and thus achieves silence on difficult political issues.
Riyadh – Everyone is talking about Saudi Arabia. A new transfer of a top footballer to the Kingdom is reported or speculated about almost every day. The multi-week e-sports festival has been running in the capital Riyadh since July 6, where cash prizes of 45 million US dollars are being awarded. The capital will see the megafight between heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury and former UFC mixed martial arts heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on October 28th. Both fighters will receive amounts in the tens of millions – at least.
Saudi Arabia: Sportswashing works very well
The problematic human rights situation in the Gulf state is becoming a minor matter. The role that Saudi Arabia has played in the Yemen conflict for years has completely disappeared from the headlines. The processing of the bestial murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul is no longer an issue. Between 2015 and 2022, there were an average of 129 executions per year in Saudi Arabia. Although the political leadership is trying to present itself with a new image, repression is used against those who think differently in their own country. Not to mention the lack of women’s rights. The realization for those in power over the past few weeks and years is that sports washing works extremely well. The ugly topics are almost never addressed anymore.
It feels like Saudi Arabia is currently pumping as much money into the sports market as it is extracting and selling oil from the ground. In truth, however, the totals are only a fraction of that. The Gulf State earned $326 billion from oil sales in 2022 alone. The Public Investment Fund, which invests in various sectors, has 650 billion US dollars. As of 2021, Saudi Arabia has invested around $1.5 billion in the sport. It is now many times over. It all started in September 2018 when George Groves and Callum Smith faced each other in the boxing ring for the super middleweight title in Riyadh. “This could be the start of something big down here,” suspected German promoter Kalle Sauerland, who was representing Briton Smith at the time. There isn’t a promoter on the planet who hasn’t flown into the region to organize boxing matches, Sauerland said.
VON PELÉ BIS MESSI
Expensive imports from top professionals Previously neglected football leagues have existed since the 1970s.
In 1977 the world stars changed Franz Beckenbauer and Skin in the then North American Soccer League to Cosmos New York. Dozens of Europeans followed the call of the dollar Johan Cruyff and Bobby Moore as well as German ex-national players like Gerd Müller and Bernd Hölzenbein .
At the start of the new millennium, the Emirate of Qatar rejoiced in signing overmature players for Qatar Stars League clubs. Well-known people came: Pep Guardiola, Stefan Effenberg, Raul, Romario, Jay-Jay Okocha and Mario Basler .
At the end of the last decade, the Chinese Super League tried unsuccessfully and costly to conquer Chinese football with players like Marko Arnautovic, Hulk, Oscar and Paulinho as well as coaches such as ex-world footballers Fabio Cannavaro, Sven-Göran Eriksson, Uli Stielike or Roger Schmitt to raise to world level.
Major League Soccer in the USA signed the superstars David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Bastian Schweinsteiger , Zlatan Ibrahimovic and now the seven-time world footballer Lionel Messi .
The Saudi Pro League is courting the currently best footballer in the world, Kylian Mbappe . In the room is an alleged annual salary of 700 million euros. The Frenchman has so far declined talks. On the other hand, the Liverpool captain changes John Henderson to Saudi Arabia and collects 800,000 euros a week, three times as much as before. Cristiano Ronaldo has been playing golf since winter. jcm
Not just football: Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in the sport
The clever British promoter Eddie Hearn also recognized the opportunity and sent his best horse in the stable, heavyweight Anthony Joshua, to Saudi Arabia. For the fight against the Mexican Andy Ruiz, he received around 60 million euros in 2019. For the fight for the heavyweight crown in the port city of Jeddah in August 2022 against the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, both boxers received around 75 million euros.
From Benzema to Kanté – these stars moved to Saudi Arabia in the summer
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In 2020, Saudi Arabia landed the Dakar Rally and pays $80 million a year to host the French sports company ASO, which also organizes the Tour de France, among other things. There is currently speculation as to whether the state fund will take over the Jumbo Visma cycling team led by the reigning Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard. Formula 1 has been doing its rounds in Jeddah since 2021. Cost $55 million per race. There are rumors that a complete takeover of the motorsport circuit in the amount of 40 billion US dollars is even possible.
Only very rarely does it happen that the Saudis rebuff individual athletes. Golf star Tiger Woods has declined to join the Saudi Arabia-funded LIV Golf Invitational Series in exchange for $800 million. Meanwhile, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau have accepted bonus payments of between $150 million and $200 million to switch from the US major series PGA to the LIV. They initially sued each other – and have since joined forces for mutual benefit. No wonder some pros who stood by the PGA against the big bucks from Saudi Arabia now feel alienated. The tennis organization ATP, which organizes the world’s most important men’s tennis tournaments, has also been in talks with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund for some time. It should certainly not be long before implementation is reported there as well.
2023-07-28 19:28:44
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