Saudi Arabia: Football fans will receive a significant development in the world of football on Wednesday as FIFA is all set to reveal the sport’s secret. The federation will announce the winning bid of the Fifa World Cup 2034 and the lone bidder Saudi Arabia are to be named as the host.
The sport will return to the Gulf after a span of 12 years as Qatar last hosted the World Cup in 2022. However, securing hosting rights was not an easy task for Saudi Arabia. They pumped investment in various sports, multiple sponsorships, and signed numerous Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to grab an opportunity to host the biggest event in football.
India can also take inspiration from the path Saudi took to get hosting rights as they are aiming to send their bid for the 2036 Olympics. Interstingly, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are two other competitors of India who wish to host the World Cup.
Over 900 sponsorship deals
Recently, a report from the Danish research organisation Play the Game explored how Saudi Arabia secured the hosting rights. The findings in the investigation showed that the country had 910 sponsorship deals across 28 sports out of which 194 were in football. The billion-dollar Public Investment Fund (PIF) which is Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund was involved in 346 sponsorships.
Also, the country is a part of 48 MOU’s according to the report which results in strong strategic ties. For Example, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) signed a MOU with its Saudi Arabian counterpart.
Collaboration with AFC and Aramco’s Intervention
Apart from investing in sports and building tactical ties through MOUs, Saudi also strengthened its partnership with AFC. According to the report, Neom - Saudi’s ambitious megacity project became AFC’s global partner from 2021 to 2024. Also, Visit Saudi became the official Global Partner of the AFC.
Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil and gas company also entered into the picture as they entered into partnership with football’s governing body.
Offering footballers lucrative deals and ownership of football clubs
The domestic football league in Saudi Arabia - the Saudi Pro League signed some of the global stars of the game like Sadio Mane, Neymar and Karim Benzema.
Not only that, Saudi has made sure that they own football clubs around the world. For example, Riyadh Air Sponsors Atletico Madrid while Riyadh Season is the sponsor for Serie A side AS Roma. Also, according to the report from Play the Game Saudi royal family member Abdullah bin Musaid Al Saud owns Belgian club Beerschot VA, UAE’s Al Hilal United, France’s LB Chateauroux, and England’s Sheffield United. All these investments in the clubs and the acquisition of the services of global football stars have paved the way for Saudis to host the tournament.
Further, FIFA’s latest evaluation of Saudi Arabia’s bid for the 2034 World Cup help Saudi’s cause as they got an impressive rating of 4.2 out of 5.
Human Rights Violation
Human rights groups have raised concerns over awarding the hosting rights to Saudi Arabia regarding the treatment of migrant workers, women and the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
