Ronaldo, LIV and a World Cup: How Saudi Arabia became a major player in global sport

Five years ago, Saudi Arabia had very few friends in international diplomatic circles. Widely condemned for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, the country needed a route back to global influence and legitimacy. Sport helped.

Today, Saudi Arabia has slowly but surely built an ornate crown of sporting jewels, including football, golf, tennis, Formula 1 and boxing, with the largest and most dazzling of its prizes being the FIFA World Cup that will almost certainly take place in the kingdom in 2034.

How did the country go from pariah to one the most important countries in sport?

Clash on the Dunes

Boxing is no stranger to controversial international events. In 1974, Muhammad Ali famously travelled to Kinshasa, in what was then Zaire and is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to fight the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, George Foreman.

The decision to hold the fight in Zaire was designed to give the country’s dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, positive publicity for his regime. The plan worked perfectly, propelling his country’s name across the world as the backdrop of one of the most famous sporting events ever seen, with Ali triumphing dramatically after being pounded against the ropes by Foreman for much of the fight.

Anthony Joshua, right, punches Andy Ruiz Jr during the ‘Clash on the Dunes’ fight in Saudi Arabia.Credit: Getty

Saudi Arabia understood that boxing had the capacity to bring positive publicity and also provided a very low barrier to entry diplomatically relative to other sports. In 2019, a year after the murder of Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia staged the heavyweight world title rematch between Britain’s Anthony Joshua and American Andy Ruiz jnr.

Promoter Eddie Hearn faced criticism for holding the fight in Saudi Arabia due to their human rights record, but defended the decision on the basis that he was getting the fighters a significant pay day. “I knew that when we made the decision not every response would be positive, and that there would be criticism and controversy,” Hearn told The Guardian at the time. “I’m a boxing promoter and sometimes the criticism and the curiosity will lead to an event of an extraordinary magnitude.”

Joshua defeated Ruiz, but ultimately, it was a sidenote. Saudi Arabia had gained its first major foothold in the world of sport.

The emergence of Princess Reema

On February 23, 2019, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud from the country’s ruling monarchy took office as the Saudi ambassador to the US.

The princess became the first female ambassador in the country’s history, helping to provide a progressive voice for a country that was frequently criticised for its approach to women’s rights.

She is a member of the International Olympic Committee and, crucially for Australia, she works on the commission responsible for co-ordinating the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games. Princess Reema is a vital part of the country’s “Vision 2030” strategy, which is using sport as a key driver in economic diversification and global engagement.

Stanis Elsborg, a senior analyst for Play the Game, an initiative run by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies that aims to raise the ethical standards of sport, highlights the importance of Princess Reema to Saudi’s sporting and diplomatic ambitions.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with Saudi Ambassador Princess Reema Bint Bandar in 2020. Credit: AFP

“In a country where women’s rights are so limited, compared to men’s, she is, of course, also a symbol of female empowerment in diplomacy and sport,” Elsborg says. “Reema can also play numerous roles. She can engage in diplomacy for Saudi Arabia and she can also engage in creating or improving the interests of Saudi Arabia in world sport.”

Research from Play the Game found that Saudi Arabia had provided more than 300 significant sponsorships in world sport.

Amnesty International reported that last year Saudi Arabia had executed 196 people. It also reported the number of executions in 2022 was three times higher than the number carried out in 2021, and at least seven times higher than the figure for 2020.

Disrupting golf

In 2021, the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, invested heavily to set up LIV, a new golf tour that went directly against the incumbent PGA Tour.

Australia’s Cameron Smith tees off in front of huge crowds at LIV’s event in Adelaide in April.Credit: Getty

Under chief executive Greg Norman, LIV Golf attracted some of the world’s best golfers, including Australia’s 2022 British Open winner Cameron Smith.

The Saudi investment in golf set the new LIV players on a collision course with their former colleagues who stayed with the PGA Tour, including vocal critics Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods.

LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman.Credit: AP

Speaking at LIV’s opening event at the Centurion club in England in 2022, golfer Graeme McDowell responded to questions about the murder of Khashoggi.

“This has been incredibly polarising,” McDowell told a press conference ahead. “The [Jamal] Khashoggi situation, I think we all agree that was reprehensible. No one’s going to argue that fact - but we’re golfers.

“Speaking personally, I really feel golf is a force of good in the world. I try to be a role model to kids. I know what the game has taught me. I love using the game of golf as something to help grow around the world and be role models to kids, try to use this game as a force for good. We’re not politicians, we’re professional golfers.”

LIV and the PGA Tour are still working on a framework agreement that could mend fractured relations between players.

Political football

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in a variety of sports, but few have earned the kingdom as much attention as its foray into football. In 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund took over Premier League club Newcastle United.

After the move was announced, Newcastle fans celebrated with Saudi flags outside the club’s St James’ Park stadium. After decades with no major trophies, Newcastle fans believed, with good reason, that this significant investment would help the club compete at the highest level. Notably, the club’s third-choice kit is now in the colours of the Saudi flag, green and white.

Newcastle United fans celebrate after the Saudi Arabia-backed takeover of the club.Credit: Getty

Domestically, the PIF has also invested heavily in the kingdom’s Saudi Pro league, particularly with four major clubs – Al Nassr, Al Ittihad, Al Ahli and Al Hilal – which are all powered by significant investment that has enabled them to sign some of the world’s biggest names.

In March, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Al Nassr made him the world’s best-paid player at 38 years old, with an annual salary reported to be more than €200 million ($335 million). According to Elsborg, Ronaldo’s arrival has been a shrewd move for Saudi Arabia, not only for his performances on the pitch but also for his huge profile off it.

“It’s had a huge effect in terms of the media coverage,” Elsborg says. “Because suddenly, there was not that many journalists who mentioned the brutal killing of Jamal Khashoggi when they wrote about the signing of Ronaldo to Saudi Arabia. And what the signing of Ronaldo also brought with it was that many other huge football stars started to look to Saudi Arabia, and we saw the influx of players in this summer transfer window. So it’s had a huge, huge effect. He is not just a football player, he is a huge brand in himself.”

Al Nassr’s Cristiano Ronaldo and teammates celebrate with the trophy of the Arab Club Championship Cup.Credit: AP

The Saudi Pro League now boasts players such as France’s Karim Benzema and Brazil’s Neymar while Lionel Messi is a tourism ambassador for the country.

Through financial investment and influence, Saudi Arabia has now manoeuvred itself as an unstoppable force in the world of football.

The 2034 FIFA World Cup

All eyes will turn to Saudi Arabia in 2034, when the country is set to host the FIFA World Cup after Australia dropped out of contention, leaving the Gulf kingdom as the only bidder.

Saudi Arabia has gained admittance to the most exclusive club perhaps in football, which will also help the country gain further influence geopolitically. In an interview in September with Fox News, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that he did not care about accusations of “sportwashing”.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud with FIFA president Gianni Infantino in 2018.Credit: Getty Images

“If sportswashing is going to increase my GDP by 1 per cent, then we’ll continue doing sportswashing,” Bin Salman said. “I don’t care [about the term]. I have 1 per cent growth in GDP from sport and I am aiming for another 1.5 per cent. Call it what you want – we are going to get that 1.5 per cent.”

Where does this leave Australia?

Australian influence on the Saudi sporting strategy is evolving. The former chief executive of the Australian Professional Leagues Danny Townsend has recently joined Saudi-based, PIF-backed SRJ Sports Investments as chief executive.

SRJ most recently invested in the Professional Fighters League, a mixed martial arts promotion. Asked by this masthead what attracted him to work with SRJ, Townsend pointed to the Saudi Arabia’s capability to deliver on their vision for sport.

“Their capability and capacity is all there,” Townsend says. “You know, you can have ambition, but if you don’t have the other ingredients to deliver on the ambition, then you can sometimes put yourself in a compromising situation.

“I think what Saudi Arabia has demonstrated is they have an unbelievable vision. They have the capacity and the capability to realise that vision and that combination is something that is pretty rare and an opportunity that I certainly couldn’t pass up.”

When asked how he aligned Saudi Arabia’s investment in sport with its human rights record, Townsend says: “That’s not for me to comment on.”

He adds: “I’m here to try and help those sport sectors in the region and globally, and we look forward. I look at the vision and what His Royal Highness is looking to achieve and it’s full of qualities and I think we should get behind [it] and support [it].

“You know, these are the type of things that we should be encouraging countries around the world to do and invest in and I think Saudi Arabia is heading in that direction. And that’s to be commended.”

Football Australia chief executive James Johnson said this week the association had “good relations” with its Saudi counterparts and that he hoped that could help Australia’s chances of securing the 2026 Women’s Asian Cup.

What next?

In a short period of time, the kingdom’s influence in sport, both financially and politically, has become impossible to ignore and now permeates every crevice of the major sporting landscape.

Fireworks explode after Sergio Perez wins the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia in Jeddah in March.Credit: Getty

The country has hosted a Formula 1 Grand Prix since 2021 and is set to host the 2029 Asian Winter Games. It was recently reported that Saudi Arabia could also host a lead in event before the Australian Open, disrupting the tennis calendar.

Australia’s sporting bodies will have to work closely with Saudi Arabia given its increased hosting capabilities across a variety of sports.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s sports minister and the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee president, has said that hosting the Olympic Games is the “ultimate goal”.

That would have seemed unthinkable as little as five years ago. But who would bet against it now? One thing is for certain – sport is one of Saudi Arabia’s most persuasive pieces of its diplomatic armoury and it will only seek to increase its influence in the years ahead.

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.