A Kingdom's football ambition: The road to 2034
From billion-dollar investments to strategic partnerships, Saudi Arabia’s influence in global football has expanded significantly in 2024. Play the Game outlines the Kingdom's deepening engagement and power plays in the world of football.
Pacific Press, Robertus Pudyanto FIFA, SOPA Images, Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images. Illustration: Play the Game
This article is part of Play the Game’s report ‘Saudi Arabia’s grip on world sport’ published in December 2024.
The report is based on a dataset which maps 910 sponsorships in sport and 1,412 positions held across Saudi entities.
Read more about the project and download the report and the full dataset
On October 4, 2023, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation put an end to speculations about a joint bid by declaring its intent to bid for the 2034 FIFA World Cup. In July 2024, the Kingdom officially submitted its bid in Paris, emerging as the sole candidate for the tournament.
While the race for the 2034 FIFA World Cup might seem settled, the journey to this pivotal moment in global football tells a much larger story.
Saudi Arabia has invested massively in world sport and meticulously positioned itself within the ‘football family’. Over the past few years, the Kingdom has woven an extensive web of influence across football’s global landscape with sponsorships, partnerships, and investments connecting them with the sport’s most powerful and decision-makers figures.
The awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia is merely the culmination of years of strategic investments and behind-the-scenes manoeuvring.
Building influence in Asia
The ink had barely dried on Saudi Arabia’s declaration of interest to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup when the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa issued a swift, enthusiastic endorsement. Within hours, more backing came in from across the footballing world.
This synchronised show of support underscores the deep ties Saudi Arabia has built with the AFC over the years. In February 2023, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation president Yasser Al-Misehal was elected as one out seven AFC representatives to the powerful FIFA Council. The election happened on the very same day Saudi Arabia was granted the rights to host the 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
The groundwork had been laid years earlier, when Neom, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious megacity project, became the AFC's Global Partner from 2021 to 2024 – a partnership that was renewed in July 2024 for another five years. Between these deals, the Kingdom further solidified its foothold when Visit Saudi, a tourism bureau powered by the Kingdom’s Saudi Tourism Authority, in 2023 became the official Global Partner of the AFC until December 2024.
Neom and Visit Saudi are prominent sponsors of the Asian Football Confederation, serving as strategic pillars in Saudi Arabia's efforts to enhance its influence in Asia. Photo: SOPA Images/Getty Images
Ambitions played out on Saudi stadiums
Saudi Arabia’s influence in world football has reached unprecedented heights in the year the country is set to secure hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup.
Domestically, the Kingdom has poured immense resources into its own league, providing both entertainment for Saudi citizens and a showcase for its football ambitions.
These investments serve as a diversion in a country lacking political rights and civil liberties, while signalling to FIFA and the global sports community that Saudi Arabia is committed to advancing football in the Middle East
In 2024 alone, Saudi Arabia hosted a series of high-profile foreign cup finals: the Spanish Super Cup, Italian Super Cup, CAF Super Cup, and Egypt Cup Final – all played out in Saudi stadiums.
Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid celebrates after scoring a goal during the Spanish Super Cup Final between Real Madrid and Barcelona at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh. The event is sponsored by the state-backed Neom project. Photo: Stringer/Anadolu/Getty Images
Saudi investments in international football
The Kingdom’s sponsorship reach in European leagues has also expanded, with Visit Saudi and the General Entertainment Authority's (GEA) Riyadh Season as prominent sponsors of Spain’s La Liga.
Riyadh Air, the new flag carrier, sponsors Spanish club Atlético Madrid, and Riyadh Season sponsors AS Roma in Serie A. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) owns Premier League club Newcastle United, and GEA Chairman and Royal Court advisor Turki Al-Sheikh bought the Spanish club Almería in 2020.
Abdullah bin Musaid Al Saud, a royal family member and former general president of the General Sports Authority (now known as the Saudi Ministry of Sport), has also invested in the football industry. He is the owner of multiple football clubs including Beerschot VA (Belgium), Al-Hilal United (United Arab Emirates), LB Châteauroux (France), Kerala United FC (India), and Sheffield United (England).
The Kingdom’s ambitions and influence extend even further, where three key players entered sponsorship deals with the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) in 2024: Aramco in February, followed by the PIF and Riyadh Air in August.
Another tool in Saudi Arabia’s strategic arsenal is the use of memorandums of understanding (MOU). As of 2024, Play the Game has identified 48 MOUs between the Saudi Arabian Football Federation and various football federations.
While these agreements may appear symbolic at first glance, they highlight the Kingdom’s extensive network of partnerships and diplomatic ties in global football and can be powerful strategic instruments.
Beyond fostering goodwill, MOUs pave the way for increased collaboration, development initiatives, and direct access to key decision-makers within federations. Ultimately, these decision-makers play a critical role in voting on significant agendas within FIFA, including host selection and governance issues.
The FIFA deal
A pivotal milestone in Saudi Arabia’s journey in world football was the 2024 landmark partnership between FIFA and Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil and gas giant.
FIFA’s President, Gianni Infantino, spoke highly of the partnership and highlighted Aramco's track record of supporting global sports events and developing grassroots sports initiatives. The agreement came just one month after Saudi Arabia was announced as host for the FIFA Series 2024, featuring eight teams from four confederations.
However, the Aramco deal has not been without controversy. In October 2024, more than 100 female footballers signed an open letter urging FIFA to end the partnership with Aramco, criticising Saudi Arabia’s record of human rights violations, systemic restrictions on women’s rights, and Aramco’s contribution to the climate crisis. The letter stated that such a corporation “has no place sponsoring our beautiful game.”
As the Kingdom’s ambitions rise with the 2034 World Cup in sight, so does its indelible mark on world football – a development that raises critical questions about the intersection of sport, governance, and human rights.
How FIFA helped pave the way for Saudi 2034
In October 2023, FIFA made a surprising move that effectively set the stage for Saudi Arabia’s bid to host a future FIFA World Cup when it announced that the FIFA Council had unanimously agreed that the sole candidacy for the World Cup in 2030 would be "the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal, and Spain."
In the same announcement, the FIFA Council detailed the bidding process for the 2034 World Cup and specified that it would follow “the principle of confederation rotation and of securing the best possible hosting conditions for the tournaments.”
As a result, only countries from the Asian Football Confederation and the Oceania Football Confederation were eligible to bid for 2034. FIFA subsequently set a tight 25-day window for countries to formally express interest.
Just 81 minutes after FIFA’s announcement, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation declared its intent to bid for the 2034 World Cup.
As the deadline neared, Australia, Saudi Arabia’s only potential competitor announced its decision not to compete for the bid and instead focus on securing hosting rights for the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup and possibly the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup.
On 15 May 2024, Australia was announced as host for the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup while the decision on the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup is still pending.
In another historic development, on 3 October 2024, FIFA detailed the voting procedure for the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, which had been approved unanimously by the FIFA Council.
The voting procedure and the decision on the hosts will be taken en bloc. This means that since FIFA operates with a one-nation-one-vote system, you either vote yes or no for both tournaments at the same time.
From the 2017 crackdown to a disputed report: Law firm’s role in Saudi’s World Cup plans
A human rights assessment made by law firm AS&H Clifford Chance for Saudi Arabia's bid for the World Cup in 2034 has been labelled flawed and far from independent by human rights organisations. The law firm also played a key role in a crackdown on Saudi's most influential people in 2017.
By the time the 2034 FIFA World Cup arrives in Riyadh, FIFA’s VIPs will likely stay in the luxurious Ritz-Carlton. But this pinnacle of the Kingdom’s opulence and hospitality has a darker history, as it played a pivotal role in one of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s most ruthless political maneuvers.
In November 2017, the hotel was transformed overnight into a detention center for nearly 400 of Saudi Arabia’s most influential figures. Princes, business magnates, ministers, and senior officials found themselves unexpectedly detained and some of them reportedly faced abuse, torture, coercion, and imprisonment.
The move, orchestrated by Mohammed bin Salman shortly after becoming Crown Prince, was framed as an anti-corruption initiative but widely seen as a calculated power grab to consolidate his authority and reshape the Kingdom’s elite while pressuring some of the detainees to sign over substantial assets.
To manage and facilitate these asset transfer, the government brought in major international firms, including the British law firm Clifford Chance.
From crackdown to human rights assessment
Seven years later, Mohammad bin Salman's trusted friends in Clifford Chance, now operating as AS&H Clifford Chance, reappeared on the Saudi stage. This time as the company behind the so-called “independent context assessment” report of Saudi Arabia’s human rights, a key component of the Kingdom’s bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
However, when the report was released in July 2024, Play the Game highlighted significant conflicts of interest that cast serious doubt on the report’s independence. Fahad Abuhimed, a partner at AS&H Clifford Chance, was particularly noteworthy as he has held numerous influential positions in Saudi government bodies and state-owned enterprises.
Abuhimed has served as a board member of the government-owned Riyadh Airports Company, Deputy Minister for Laws and Regulations, and as an advisor for various high-profile state activities like Neom and the Public Investment Fund.
A flawed report and mounting criticism
Concerns deepened three months later when eleven human rights organisations issued a joint statement which denounced AS&H Clifford Chance’s report as “flawed”.
The organisations alleged that AS&H Clifford Chance had agreed to a decision by FIFA and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation to “exclude analysis of Saudi Arabia’s record on multiple critical human rights“ - including issues related to freedom of expression, LGBTI+ rights, prohibition of trade unions, and forced evictions.
The report selectively cited UN findings while omitting others, such as documented cases of torture, women’s rights violations, labour complaints, cases of death penalties connected to NEOM’s development, and the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Further compounding the criticism, there is no evidence that AS&H Clifford Chance consulted external experts, international human rights organisations, or individuals potentially affected by the World Cup. Even Amnesty International’s report Playing a Dangerous Game? Human Rights Risks Linked to the 2030 and 2034 FIFA World Cups, which details potential human rights risks associated with the World Cup in Saudi Arabia, was absent from the assessment.