In recent years, Saudi Arabia—a country that was relatively unknown to many—has increasingly appeared on newspaper covers, particularly in the sports press. Since Cristiano Ronaldo signed a $200 million-per-year deal with Al-Nassr in December 2022, dozens of players have joined the Portuguese star in the Saudi Pro League. Veteran players like Neymar Jr. and Karim Benzema have joined the league, along with rising talents such as France's Moussa Diaby and Mohamed Simakan, as well as Spanish teenager Gabri Veiga.

All of these transfers have one common aspect: huge amounts of money. Excluding player salaries, the Saudi Pro League has invested over $1.5 billion during the last two summer transfer windows. For context, this places the league fifth globally in terms of expenditure, surpassing Spain’s La Liga during this period. With an increasing star drain to Saudi Arabia, which has more permissive financial measures, European leagues’ hegemony might soon be in danger. This raises the question: is this purely a passion for football, or is there a deeper strategy at play?

A new face for Saudi Arabia: vision 2030 and the role of sportswashing

With a population of 37 million, Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East. It holds approximately one-fourth of the world's oil reserves and boasts some of the cheapest extraction costs, making it the largest global oil exporter and the second-largest producer. This strategic advantage grants the kingdom significant economic and geopolitical influence. They can make oil prices change worldwide in the blink of an eye. But the world is as dependent on their oil as Saudi Arabia is on it: 87% of their national budget and over 40% of their GDP is oil-dependent.

However, economic indicators are among the few areas Saudi Arabia can take pride in. Organizations like Human Rights Watch consistently rank Saudi Arabia among the world's worst for human rights and freedoms. Women were banned from driving until late 2018, there is no legal protection for LGBT rights—in fact, homosexuality is punished with the death penalty—and the country ranks 1.7 out of 10 in terms of freedom of press and speech, according to the Civil and Political Rights Report of 2023.

Within this context of extreme oil dependence in a world that is becoming less reliant on this resource and the necessity to improve the image of the country, Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud set a series of reforms called Saudi Vision 2030. This is a roadmap for the development of new economic sectors to diversify the country’s economy, united with initiatives to enhance Saudi Arabia’s reputation, such as cautious reforms on women’s rights and the opening to tourism. In this facelift, football plays a central role.

This practice, known as sportswashing, involves using sports to enhance a country’s reputation, and it is not a Saudi invention. Just to name some examples, Italy held the 1934 World Cup during the rule of Benito Mussolini, and so did Qatar in 2022. But the most common way of sportswashing is not hosting sports events but through sponsorship. Russian oil company Gazprom was the main sponsor of several major European clubs, such as Chelsea FC, for years. Qatari and Emirati fortunes have invested or are investing millions in historical clubs such as FC Barcelona, Manchester City, or Paris Saint-Germain. This is the path Saudi Arabia is following, in parallel with fostering their national league, with the acquisition of the British football club Newcastle United, hosting the Italian Supercup in 2018 and 2019, and the Spanish Supercup from 2020 to the present day.

Saudi Arabia’s investment Arsenal: sports, infrastructure, and global influence

Behind all this investment is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through the Public Investment Fund, known by its acronym PIF, the main driver of the Saudi Pro League as the owner of the four main clubs of the competition—Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli, and Al-Ittihad. This is part of the Saudi strategy to buy influence through sport and goes beyond propelling the national league. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia achieved its goal of hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup and is also targeting other sports disciplines such as tennis—in October 2024, the best players in the world took part in the recently created Six Kings Grand Slam in Riyadh—or Formula 1, hosting a GP since 2021.

But sports are only a tiny part of the PIF strategy to foster and diversify the economy of the country. One can see that huge investments are being made to develop groundbreaking national infrastructure, with a focus on sustainability. Foreign direct investment is also booming in sectors as diverse as tech, health, or science all over the world. The Saudi fund is now actively participating in companies such as the American PayPal, Meta, Microsoft, or Nvidia, the Spanish giant Telefonica, and several Japanese financial institutions. Whether it’s economic power or soft power, the strategy is clear.

Saudi Arabia's oil reserves have long positioned it as a dominant global actor, but this advantage will not last indefinitely. Through Vision 2030, investing heavily in sports, technology, and infrastructure, Saudi Arabia is not only seeking economic resilience but also attempting to reshape its international image. Whether this strategy succeeds in securing its place as a future global power, however, will depend on the kingdom's ability to balance economic transformation with addressing deep-seated concerns about human rights and governance.