The Impact of Saudi Arabia’s Oil Money on Football and the Concerns of Commercialization

Berlin. Saudi Arabia is currently pumping billions in oil into its own league’s football clubs. Just last winter, the aging superstar Cristiano Ronaldo moved to the Al-Nassr club for a rumored annual salary of 200 million euros. Other stars such as Neymar, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kanté also joined previously lesser-known clubs in the desert state for ridiculous salaries. An absurdity, as sports journalist Philipp Köster made clear on “Markus Lanz” on Wednesday evening.

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The journalist warned that increasing commercialization could negatively impact football forever. “It’s about preserving the cultural heritage of football,” said Köster – also with a view to the omnipresent advertising during a game. He added thoughtfully: “We notice that everything is now geared towards television viewers.” The people in the stadium, on the other hand, are “much less in demand than before.” As a result, “an alienation takes place and the question is: How far do you want to allow that?”

Markus Lanz asked with interest: “You think this wheel can be turned back?” The founder, managing director and editor-in-chief of the football magazine “11 Freunde” answered cautiously and believes that there is currently “a cultural core” of football, “that up to now has not been destroyed.” This arose from a “symbiotic relationship between fans and the people on the pitch”. Nevertheless, the sports journalist is very worried when he looks at Saudi Arabia.

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“Sport is endlessly messed up because of money”

In an interview with Lanz, Köster complained: “Sport has been endlessly messed up because of money – for many, many years.” He added with regard to the high transfer amounts and salaries of top stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar: “The absurdity of these amounts, that changes it A lot of people’s eyes.”

Cristiano Ronaldo receives a pompous reception at Al-Nassr

The Portuguese football star was introduced to his new club Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia with a large fireworks display including a laser show.

© Quelle: Reuters

Islamic scholar Sebastian Sons added that there was also a lot of turmoil in the golf world: “Tiger Woods once had 700 million in the room.” Philipp Köster then stated: “You can do a lot with a lot of money and really push yourself into it in a sport like this.” When asked about the many changes of well-known footballers, the sports journalist continued to complain: “What’s going on right now is a fairground. It’s a big football fair, but it has nothing to do with what we know in Europe.”

The ZDF presenter still wanted to know from the journalist whether he could in some way understand the decision of stars like Cristiano Ronaldo. But Philipp Köster countered with a serious expression: “To be honest, it disgusts me when you have older athletes (…) who have already earned so much money in their lives.” Köster added angrily: “Anyone who goes to Saudi Arabia “Arabia is basically a PR ambassador in shorts – of course that’s not morally okay.”

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“The Saudis are using the exact system we built”

Meanwhile, Islamic scholar Sebastian Sons tried to remain neutral. He explained: “You certainly have to view what is happening in Saudi Arabia critically, but you have to classify it.” According to the Islam expert, the desert state of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not the inventor of the “commercialization of football,” because “the Saudis are using the exact system we built. And now to complain that money rules the world is hypocritical.” The narrative there about European-style football is: “If someone like Saudi Arabia or Qatar tries to shake things up as the new kid in town, they will initially be rejected , because that’s not the kind of football people would like to have in Europe.”

The Islamic scholar also made it clear that Saudi Arabia is not just trying to “push the boundaries” with massive investments for sporting reasons. The larger strategy is to symbolically offer the people a new Saudi Arabia, “to conquer new markets and to make oneself economically irreplaceable in a certain way.” Sons continues: “Saudi Arabia is not only pursuing the goal of becoming better known, of generating influence with money, (…) but they also want to create glamour.” Image cultivation is also a reason for the offensive sports policy. “Some call it megalomania, in Saudi Arabia itself many people say: This is simply the ambitious ambition that we have,” said the Islam expert.

“Saudi Arabia has a difficult reputation to get rid of,” said Markus Lanz, referring to the human rights violations in the country. The ZDF presenter therefore wanted to know how Saudi Arabia’s football offensive was being received by its own population. Sebastian Sons then explained that the social disparities in the desert state are “massive”, but “investing a lot of money in footballers can create a certain euphoria”. Nevertheless, he noted that the euphoria could soon turn into criticism if the situation in his own country and acute youth unemployment do not improve significantly.

Ex-Bayern coach Nagelsmann will apparently be the new national coach

The 36-year-old football coach comes on a free transfer from FC Bayern Munich, where he had a contract that ran until 2026.

© Quelle: Reuters

Doubts about Nagelsmann as DFB coach

Another topic of the evening was the DFB’s top personnel: Who will be Hansi Flick’s successor in the German national football team – ten months before the home European Championship? There is currently speculation about Julian Nagelsmann as the new national coach. However, there were doubts as to whether the former FC Bayern coach was suitable for bridging the noticeable distance between the audience and the “strange” national team, according to Köster: the 36-year-old was “definitely” one of the coaches, and the teams were “great could adjust” and were “tactically flawless”.

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At the same time, according to Köster, Nagelsmann is missing everything that interim coach Rudi Völler exudes – “that pleasant family atmosphere, team spirit, camaraderie”. Köster continued: “When we think of Rudi Völler, we immediately think of the 2002 World Cup. ‘There is only one Rudi Völler.’ We think of 1986, where he scored a goal in the World Cup final, and was world champion in 1990.” Nagelsmann, who was never a national player, is undoubtedly different: “He’s the kind of guy who comes to work with a skateboard, a new one Fashion collection, whether tasteful or not, tried out.”

RND/Teleschau

2023-09-21 05:27:56
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