There are probably a few teams you think of when someone mentions soccer.
Man United, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Intermiami, Paris Saint Germaine…
Out of all the teams in the game-whether you think of a team in La Liga, Premier League, or even MLS- I guarantee that Saudi Arabia has never crossed your mind.
Well, it’s time to change that.
Within the past two years, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation has acquired 21 of the most expensive players from some of the most well-known clubs in Europe. These massive deals include the likes of stars like Neymar Jr. and even Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo, arguably the most famous face of soccer, signed to the Saudi Pro team Al-Nassr after a dramatic exit from Premier League’s Manchester United in late December of 2022. His Al-Nassr contract earns him a comfortable 200 million dollars a year.
Neymar, a Brazillian striker, signed with the Riyadh-based team Al-Hilal after six seasons with Paris Saint Germaine. His contract was reportedly worth a record 300 million dollars at the time of his signing.
Neymar’s astronomical offer, however, only came after French soccer star Kylian Mbappé rejected the same team’s 1.1 Billion dollar deal in July.
Take a look at that number again- if Mbappé had taken the deal, it would have been the most expensive deal in the history of the sport by nearly 800 Million dollars.
While it seems as if Saudi Arabia has appeared in the soccer world out of nowhere, not only do they have the funds to offer players lucrative deals worth upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars, but it isn’t the only sport that they are dominating with that kind of money.
WWE, Golf, Tennis, and Formula 1 are all at the center of Saudi Arabia’s attention, too.
While the country’s partnerships with the European leagues can be traced back to as early as 2008, when Saudi Telecom and Manchester United struck a 9 million GBP deal, WWE first emerged in the Kingdom in 2013 when they made a deal to stage an untelevised event in Riyadh.
WWE events continued to take place through the next five years when the association announced that they would sign off on a 10-year contract to host “premium” events in Saudi Arabia. The WWE is set to make 50 million a year off of the deal. Earlier this month, the WWE hosted the fifth “Crown Jewel” Pay Per View event in Riyadh, as part of the 10-year deal with the Kingdom. The event generated well above 50 million dollars, which is more revenue than 3 of WWE’s Wrestlemania generates.
The sport of tennis also found itself amid the Kingdoms’ business deals starting in 2018, when famed players Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal agreed to play in an exhibition match in Jeddah. The match never ended up being played, due to an ankle injury suffered by Nadal. Despite the cancellation, the country would eventually host the Aramco oil company-sponsored Diriyah Tennis Cup in which the likes of Medvedev competed. The winnings totaled 3 million dollars.
Saudi Arabia also began to make its claim on golf in 2018, with the creation of Golf Saudi. The project aimed to strengthen the Kingdom’s relations with the world of golf and create 13 golf courses across the country. The next year, The DP Tour held the inaugural Saudi International tournament, which was won by Dustin Johnson.
The Kingdom’s ties with Formula 1, however, date back to the 1970’s. In 1977, the Williams racing team gained sponsorship from the airline Saudia and was appropriately named Saudia Williams. Three years later, the team won the Constructor’s Championship, and their driver Alan Jones won the Drivers Championship. Fast forward to 2020, the Aramco oil company announced a “long-term” partnership with Formula 1. The oil company later became a major sponsor of the Aston Martin F1 team.
The following year, a new circuit was introduced to the F1 calendar: The “Saudi Arabian Grand Prix”. The inaugural race was held in Jeddah in 2021 and was one of five-night races held on that season’s calendar. The track was designed by two-time Le Mans winner and former Benetton Formula 1 driver Alexander Wurz.
The event was perhaps the biggest show of exactly how much influence Saudi Arabia has gained in the sporting world in recent years. However, with all of the quick success demonstrated by the Kingdom, it begs the simple question: why? The Kingdom has a poor record of Human Rights Violations, being a totalitarian state. The ordered murder of Jamal Khashoggi remains one of the most infamous violations by the Kingdom and is a controversial topic when discussing sports moving to or foreign events held in Saudi Arabia. This event, among other conflicts in the country, led many to believe that the takeover was a strategic move called sportswashing.
Sportswashing is defined as a nation, government, group, or individual that uses sports and their success to improve reputation and distract from wrongdoing.
While it’s highly likely that this could be Saudi Arabia’s motive in dominating world sports, it doesn’t change the fact that they possess incredibly talented athletes and will continue to be a mecca for grand, luxe sporting events.
Do not count the Kingdom out of the competition!
