Saudi Arabia is pouring into football – Sport – Kommersant

Saudi Arabia intends to develop national football. Its Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the richest in the world, controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and managing $430 billion in assets, has allocated $2.3 billion to sponsor Saudi clubs. This can be seen as another step taken by Saudi Arabia as part of a strategy to build power in the football market. Previously, she, acting as the initiator of the campaign, agreed to submit a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup with Egypt and Greece, and a year ago PIF acquired the English side Newcastle.

The fact that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia will allocate $ 2.3 billion to the development of the football industry, reported Financial Times. Most of the money, the newspaper notes, is allocated to several 20-year commercial contracts between portfolio companies Qiddiya and Jeddah Central and local football clubs, as well as a five-year agreement to sponsor the Saudi Premier League by Roshn (it is owned by PIF).

These investments are very modest by the standards of Saudi Arabia: for comparison, the fund intends to spend $38 billion on the development of e-sports.

All these investments are part of the state strategy Vision-2030, accepted back in 2016, the main goals of which are to diversify the national economy and change the international image.

Investing in football looks very justified, since it is in huge demand in Saudi Arabia. The country has its own championship, in which 16 teams play. The most titled are the capital’s “Al-Hilal”, “An-Nasr” and “Al-Ittihad” from Jeddah, who have 30 championships out of 46 possible for three. Another club has had an extremely good start this season, with Al-Shabaab, also based in Riyadh, currently topping the table.

There are very few foreign players in Saudi clubs. The reason is a hard limit: five representatives of the countries of the Arab world and three more players from other countries can play in the team. As is the case with other wealthy Asian leagues, elite players leave there mainly at the end of their careers. Now in Al-Shabab, for example, plays Polish footballer Grzegorz Krychowiak, who previously played for Lokomotiv.

The top three clubs in the national league qualify for the Asian Champions League. In terms of the total number of titles, Al-Hilal, the giant of Asian football, is again in the lead there. The club, now coached by Argentine Ramon Diaz, has eight appearances in finals and four victories. Al-Hilal last won the tournament in 2021, beating South Korean club Pohang Steelers 2-0 in the final.

The national team is not doing very well. She is ranked 51st in the FIFA rankings. Among the teams that will take part in the Qatari World Cup, only the national team of Ghana is listed below (61st position).

The best achievement of the Saudis is still getting into the one-eighth final at the 1994 tournament in the USA, where they lost to the Swedes.

Currently, Saudi Arabia is making a lot of efforts to increase its presence in the international football market. In 2019, the country signed a contract with the Spanish Football Federation, which for €120 million agreed hold the Super Bowl in Saudi stadiums for the next three years (then the agreement was extended until 2028). The matches of the Italian Supercup are also held there.

In September, Saudi Arabia, apparently following the example of neighboring Qatar, submitted a bid to host the 2030 World Cup, and a joint bid. Saudi Arabia’s partners were Egypt and Greece, which it promised to take on all the costs of preparing the infrastructure if it won the competition. The South American bloc will compete with them – Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile. Spain and Portugal also filed a collective application, which were recently joined by Ukraine.

Another important move was the acquisition from Mike Ashley by a consortium of entrepreneurs led by the Saudi Public Investment Fund of English Premier League club Newcastle. The new owners spent £0.5bn on it: £305m had to be paid for 100% of the team’s papers, another £200m was spent on its restructuring (purchasing new players, hiring a new head coach, and so on).

Ekaterina Remizova