Explained | Golf, soccer, cricket and more - Is Saudi Arabia the next sporting wonderland?

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is on a roll. From football to golf to boxing to F1, the Middle East nation is flexing its muscles big time. On Tuesday, within a matter of hours, the kingdom announced the signing of Real Madrid superstar Karim Benzema as an Al-Ittihad player, while PGA Tour declared it was ready to merge operations with LIV Golf.

The day, in microcosm, showed the increasing influence of Saudi Arabia on global sports. However, the question arises, why is Saudi Arabia so eager to become the next sporting wonderland? Is it to earn more money or a bigger picture is in play? WION explores.

Sportswashing to change perception?

Sports has always been a source of soft power in the contemporary world and sports washing is a way to change theperception of the masses. Many termed the FIFA World Cup in Qatar as a sports washingevent which managed to achieve the desired result. Despite being a graveyard of human rights violations, the Qatar WC has gone down as one of the best tournaments of all time with the majority forgetting the horrors leading up to it.

Akin to Qatar, Saudi Arabia has had a dodgy human rights record. Experts believe that by making itself the pivot of everything sports, Saudi Arabia is hoping for a turnaround. The pace of this turnaround, however, has been truly astounding.

The turnaround in Saudi Arabian football

Tuesday (June 6) was a day of farewell, a last goodbye as Benzema made a callback to his first appearance at the storied pitch of Bernabeu. "Un, dos, tres, Hala Madrid!" said the striker before walking off. However, before it could dawn upon Madridistas that one of their all-time greats had left, images started circulating, showing Benzema holding a yellow-black Al-Ittihad jersey.

It was a big, quick and efficient poach, especially considering a current Ballon d'Or holder was joining thefive-time winnerCristiano Ronaldo in the same country to play in the same league.

With murmurs growing around the potential move of Lionel Messi and N'golo Kante to Riyadh as well, Saudi Arabia sits on the cusp of a true cannon event. And don't be surprised if the deal goes through as the sovereign wealth fund of the country, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) recently bought 75 per cent of Al-Ittihad, Al-Ahli, Al-Nassr, and Al-Hilal - the top four clubs in the Saudi Arabia Pro League.

The confidence to invest in the league stems from the Saudi Arabiannational team's performance in the World Cup where it was the only team to defeat eventual championsArgentina.

Kingdom develops interests abroad

While the kingdom grows its football league, it has developed major interests outside as well. In 2021, a consortium led by PIF bought off Premier League club Newcastle United. Within a year of PIF making the purchase, Newcastle found themselves back in the Champions League after an absence of 20 years. The scary part? PIF is yet to spend a fraction of its $600 billion wealth on the club. If the success of Manchester City over the last decade serves any template of oil money catapulting a club to glory, Newcastle United surely has a beaming future ahead.

Apart from football, Saudi Arabia has managed to attract Formula 1 and its growing legion of fans. The street circuit in Saudi Arabia has become a staple on the F1 calendar and it doesn't appear to be going away anytime soon.

WATCH |Ibrahimovic retires, Benzema bids farewell to Real Madrid | WION Sports Extra

Cricket, IPL and future league

In cricket, Saudi Tourism Authority became a sponsor of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) earlier this year. The partnership with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) meant it was the first timethe IPL was sponsored by a government body of a foreign country.

Aramco, one of the biggest companies in the world by market cap, sponsored the purple and orange cap in the tournament. Recently, reports have trickled insuggesting that the kingdom is planning to launch its own version of IPL which may dwarf its Indian counterpart in the money involved.

In boxing, Saudi Arabia has already made inroads after it hosted the world heavyweight boxing championship bout between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua in 2019. More recently, the PPV fight between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury was staged in the capital city of Riyadh in February which attracted global eyeballs.

A repeat of the past?

The century of Saudi Arabia is truly here but a country attempting to hog the limelight away from European football rings a familiar bell. At the start of the decade, Chinese President Xi Jinping laid out a long-term vision of transforming the Chinese Super League into a world-beater, capable of competing with the likes of Europe's big-five leagues.

The dream was off to a solid start as star footballers and managers arrived on the mainlandafter being wooed with the moolah. The start, however, didn't materialise, as the enthusiasm around Chinese football petered out without awhimper.

Although it is highly unlikely that Saudi Arabia may meet the same fate, the pull of European football remains strong as ever. A young, budding footballer moving to Saudi Arabia would still be considered a suicide move by the pundits and fans. However, the sport is changing and the kingdom is going out of its way to present itself as a true sporting destination. It remains to be seen what will happen, but the leader of the Arab world is leaving no stone unturned to avoid failure.

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