Arab and the Gulf States- -An Assault on Football

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Written by Isaac Udoh


The reaches of Gulf nations influence in world football continues to grow. Arab nations have over the past seasons made mouth watering investments in the world of sports. Most recently, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) through their Sport Clubs Investment and Privatisation Project, have taken a 75 per cent stake in Al-Ittihad as well as Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal and Al-Ahli. The PIF purchased 75 per cent in each club, while their respective non-profit foundations hold 25 per cent ownership of each club. This means that the clubs will be funded directly by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) - and according to most recent filings, PIF is worth over $650 billion in assets.


Similarly, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), a sovereign wealth fund located in Doha, the capital of Qatar who are worth even more than the PIF are heavily linked with the purchase of Manchester United, Liverpool and even Tottenham .


Photo Credit: MENASource


This article points out how the Gulf nations(limited to: Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates) are making moves to seek new foreign investment avenues by investing in European football and how this investment is rebranding football


HOSTING THE WORLD CUP


Beth Greenfield a sports contributor wrote," If wealth is power, then the Qataris have some serious muscle to flex." In biding to secure the rights to host the World Cup, it is put that Qatar spent close to £200 million alone. This is without taking into calculations the private money plunged into the project by private owners and firms. 


And what was the effect? - by a BBC Polls result on the best World Cup of the 21st Century, WCQatar 2022 ranked first with a staggering 78% vote. It doesn't end there, Saudi Arabia is reportedly considering a joint bid with Egypt and Greece to host the 2030 World Cup. Considering the fact it's their neighbors who hosted the last world cup, it says a lot about the financial man power of the Arab nations.

Photo Credit: UALR Public Radio


SIGNING GLOBAL STARS 


Christiano Ronaldo, one of the biggest sports figure in the world made a move to the Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr in 2022 for a  reported $200million a year contract deal. 


Landing a five time Ballon D'or,three time FIFA World Player of the Year/Best Men's and a Global Influencer is an applaudable business deal. As Kumar puts it, "Such a high-profile player brings all the world’s attention on you and you can show that Saudi Arabia is becoming more progressive."


It's no news that a move was made for Lionel Messi to join the Arabian league. According to Barcelona-based reporter Helena Condis, Al-Hilal, a Saudi Pro League aide had made one last contract offer to Messi which was said to be worth €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) over three years.


Assuming that contract deal pulled through we would have had another El-Classico experience - this time however, with a touch of Arab flavour.


“Once you attract the biggest names then there will be a knock-on effect,” Kumar added. “It’s not just Al Hilal and Al Nassr but other clubs and there will be other players becoming more open to the idea.” 


This is in fact what is happening. Karim Benzema some days ago signed a  three-year deal with Saudi Arabian side Al-Ittihad which is worth £258m. N'Golo Kante also joined Al-Ittihad in a whopping €200m (£172.1m/$213.8m) over two years.


Now the issue is beyond the money involved - it's the calibre of stars and high profile players we're talking about here. Benzema is the most recent Ballon D'or winner and looking at his contributions for Real Madrid and match performances, he's still got top tier football left in him, same with kante. 


According to AFP, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets, Angel Di Maria and Roberto Firmino are also among the seasoned World Cup and Champions League winners being lined up for the Saudi Pro League.

 

Photo Credit: AS USA



Photo Credit: China Daily


OWNING EPL SIDES


In 2008, Manchester City F.C was purchased by Sheikh Mansour, the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and member of the royal family of Abu Dhabi. After that takeover, Sheihk plunged money into the team - what's the effect? Manchester City have won 14 major domestic trophies; the EPL, FA cup, FA community shield and the Caraboa Cup and are well under way to clinch the UEFA Champions League. 


  It's reported that Manchester United F.C are on the brink of being owned by Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the current emir of Qatar. Newcastle through it's new ownership headed by Saudi Crown Prince, Mohamed Bin Salman, are considered the wealthiest club in the league; this takeover has infact paid of on the field with Newcastle qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in 20 years. Good business!


Honourable Mentions: Aston Villa, owned by Egypt’s Nassef Sawiris, and  Sheffield United, owned by Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.


FRANCE'S PSG, ARAB BACKED


Now let's look at Paris Saint-Germain The French team are owned by Qatari Sports Investment. Yes, another Arab nation pulling the strings in support of the of an European team.  


PSG's financial backbone from which they've stood on to make high profile signings has been directly funded by an Arab nation. According to Sportingnews.com, the contract Messi signed in 2017 - "the deal had a value of over $650 million over its four-year duration if various conditions were met. 


According to the report, it provided Messi a $161 million annual base salary, a $135 million signing bonus and a $91 million-plus loyalty payment." Neymar on the other hand had cost over £200million in transfer fees alone, a record breaking fee that's yet to be broken -this, with out taking into account what he currently earns.


 Kylian Mbappe's transfer from Monaco was and the salaries earned is altogether mouthwatering. The source, obvious, OIL MONEY FROM QATAR.


Photo Credit: Marca

HOSTING EUROPEAN FINALS

Photo Credit: Marca

In 2021, a sponsorship deal between the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and the Royal Spanish Football Federation was signed, this deal handed Saudi Arabia to rights to host the Supercopa de España or the Spanish Super Cup for the coming years. In simple terms what this implies is that local fans of Spanish Clubs will have to travel to Saudi Arabia to watch a local tournament. Totally unbelievable!!


 It's undeniably safe to conclude that the agreement was money induced. According to MARCA, Spanish football itself will make €40m (£35m/$43m) from the cup. The four teams who participated in the last  edition held in January at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia made huge money for themselves. Barcelona and Real Madrid will got base payments of €2.8 million each, with Barcelona getting total of close to €5.00 million for being champions.


This is the same story for the Italian Super Cup. In 2018, Saudi Arabia entered a similar agreement with the Italian top flight league to host the Supercoppa Italiana. Since then, Three out of five of the last competition have been played in the Gulf state under a deal worth a total of 21 million euros ($22.52 million).

Photo Credit: Eurosport

With the way Saudi's moves are going, it would not be surprising to see the FA Community Shield (the English Supercup) hosted in a certain Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium, Saudi Arabia in the coming years.


 Some say it's too early to conclude that Saudi Arabia's master plan to use sports to boost their economy will be successful; this is on grounds that China tried similar moves in the summer of 2017. Inasmuch as that's a valid point to make, the numbers, financial backing, and the government's involvement in "VISION 2030" only shows that the project is in fact well planned and can be executed to the end. 


Arab leagues may not become the best leagues in the world as it government craves, but if Saudi achieve their "Top 10 league dream status," and the other's develop equally, then there's the possibility the next generation of stars would like to ply their trade there at some point.


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