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after Qatar, it’s the turn of the Saudis to buy world sport

BarcelonaAt the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, for the first time all delegations participated with women. Three states had refused until then: Brunei, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The three women who participated in the opening ceremony with a Saudi flag in their hands, however, walked behind the men, not among them. “Back then the Saudis didn’t feel the need to sell a positive image to the world, they didn’t really care. In recent years, however, they have understood that the strategy of their neighbors, such as Qatar and the Arab Emirates, is good enough. And they use sport to promote themselves and improve an image tarnished by executions, the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi or the few rights of women,” says Christoph Wilcke, an expert on Saudi Arabia at Human Rights Watch .

The crown prince to the Saudi throne, Mohammed bin Salman, has led this offensive that aims to make Saudi Arabia the new mecca of sports, ahead of its neighbors in Qatar. In fact, the Saudis have more money, more resources, more territory and more inhabitants. Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were a group of small kingdoms in their shadow, until thanks to gas and oil they knew how to play their cards to get away from the Saudis, one of the most important states in the world, since in their territory are the holiest places in Islam, such as Mecca and Medina. Historically closed and hermetic, the kingdom has opened up in surprising ways in the last decade. If in 2012 the International Olympic Committee still had to put a lot of pressure on them to allow the presence of women at the London Games, now they are the ones using sport to sell a positive image. This past week the crown prince was alongside Cristiano Ronaldo when the footballer was unveiled as a new player for Al-Nassr in the Saudi league. At the presentation event, the presenter did not cover her hair. In an event that millions of people around the world watched, the Saudis wanted to offer their most modern image.

The presentation of Cristiano Ronaldo, who happens to be the highest paid player in the world, took place in the same week that the kingdom hosted the Dakar rally again, as it has been for years. And just before a new edition of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, for the third consecutive year. Mohammed bin Salman will be in the box office at Sunday’s final, accompanied by club managers and the Spanish Football Federation. Reports showing his involvement in the murder in Turkey of the journalist critical of the Saudi regime, Jamal Khashoggi, appear to be far from over. Or the involvement of the Saudis in the civil war in Yemen, where crimes against the civilian population have been documented in recent years.

After Qatar, they also want a World Cup

The signing of Cristiano, the Super Cup and the Dakar, however, are only the tip of the iceberg. “In recent years they have decided to bet on sport to consolidate their position in the world”, says the Galician Raúl Caneda, who has trained in Saudi Arabia. The Saudis’ new challenges are even bigger, including trying to host the soccer World Cup in 2030. Although a repeat venue in the same geographic area eight years after the World Cup in Qatar seems unlikely, they are pouring money into promoting a bid that competes against that of Spain and Portugal, and one between Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. If they fail to win, the Saudis will return in 2034.

The crown prince, to maintain power, has understood that it is necessary to evolve. Bin Salman has introduced social and economic reforms, but he has not touched the political, dictatorial system. It has allowed women to drive and not wear a veil, but not to have decision-making power. Human Rights Watch continues to document executions, repression of women, sexual minorities and the activity of Saudi troops in Yemen. “There is little internal dissent in Qatar, as the population has a high standard of living. The Saudis, being a bigger country, have not guaranteed it. Now they are betting on providing entertainment and modernity to the population, in exchange for not questioning the system. It seems that everything changes, so that nothing changes”, defends Wilcke.

In recent years the Saudis have hosted Formula 1 grand prix, the biggest-paying non-ATP tennis tournament, and bought English Premier League team Newcastle United for $413 million. Although the British Parliament blocked this operation for two years debating whether it was a good idea to sell clubs to dictatorial regimes, in the end the Saudis got away with it. And Newcastle could return to the Champions League next season. The Saudi government is copying the strategy of its neighbors. If Qatar bought PSG and the United Arab Emirates bought Manchester City, they have done it with Newcastle.

The most surprising project, however, is that of organizing a Winter Olympics. Despite having no snow, they have already managed to be chosen as the venue for the Asian Winter Games in 2029, a litmus test to see if an Olympic bid makes sense. The Saudis want to organize this meeting in the Tabuk mountain area, near the border with Jordan and the Red Sea, a natural area with peaks of more than 3,000 meters where it snows from time to time, but never hard enough to be able have a ski slope. It would therefore be necessary for the snow to be artificial. The Saudi project, in fact, is linked to one of the big bets of its government, Neom, a macro-city that wants to be completed before 2030 on the coast of the Red Sea and that would have its own laws in order to attract western professionals to live and work there. A futuristic city that could cost up to 500 billion dollars.

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