Carlos Mateos Gil |
Madrid (EFE).- First it was the arrival of the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and now that of the French Karim Benzema. Saudi Arabia has decided to make an important commitment to bring some of the most popular soccer players on the planet to play in the country as part of the strategy to gain notoriety with a view to being one of the possible organizers of the 2030 World Cup.
Benzema, the player with the most titles in the history of Real Madrid, will be the next legend of European football to land in Arabia. As reported to EFE by club sources, during the week he conveyed an irrefutable proposal and his desire to accept it.
Follow in the footsteps of Cristiano Ronaldo towards a League that grows with players who have made history in the last decade.
As if it were a relay race, the Saudis picked up at the beginning of this year, almost immediately, the witness left by neighboring Qatar after organizing the appointment in 2022, giving the coup de effect of the signing of Cristiano for the Al-Nassr.
And they are willing to pull their economic muscle, molded on the basis of oil, to prevail over the rest of their rivals, the joint candidacies of Spain, Portugal and Morocco and of Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay and Chile.
The increasingly relevant country-brand
“Saudi Arabia has realized the great potential that football holds as an industry. And not only for an economic issue, which does not need it, but for a matter of exposure of the country-brand at an international level. It has been shown that the strategy that Qatar began more than ten years ago has brought very significant returns in terms of international exposure and Saudi Arabia does not want to be left behind. It is basically a sports diplomacy strategy”, explained Javier Sobrino, former director of innovation and strategy at FC Barcelona, to EFE.
“We live in a world in which country-brands are increasingly relevant. Countries, cities and regions compete with each other for tourism issues, investment, international projection… and there is no loudspeaker similar to football. It is a universal language, the sport that is practiced the most, an instrument that is used well to reach any part of the world”, added Javier Sobrino, now managing partner at Aser Ventures, a sports investment platform.
“If you want to be and be credible in the world of football, you must not only organize events but also be part of the industry. Qatar did it with the purchase of PSG in Paris. The Premier is very attractive to many people internationally, especially in markets like the Middle East and Asia. Having a relevant property there means being part of a fairly exclusive club, if you want to be perceived as someone relevant in this industry you have to be there” underlines the consultant.
At the moment there is no official confirmation from the Asian country but there is a feeling that it is trying to find partners, even on other continents, with the aim of reaching the goal in that edition or in the subsequent one in 2034. And for that they have started to move.
Stage of international competitions
Beyond importing into their league stars who have shone in recent years in European football with the aim of turning them into prescribers, offering them a setting away from the pressure in which to deploy the last years of their sporting career, the tentacles extend to the organization of competitions.
In this sense, Saudi Arabia has not put a ceiling on its ambitions and little by little it has been achieving small milestones. It was hosting the Super Cup of the transalpine country outside of Italy and it has been doing the same with the Spanish one, also modifying in the latter case the format to accommodate four teams. The next step, already confirmed, will be to host the Club World Cup in December.
The football events are one more leg in its desire to be a showcase for the best competitions in the world, since a Formula 1 Grand Prix or the Dakar rally are already held there. Even though it may seem impossible, the Asian Winter Games will take place in a desert environment in 2029 Associated with well-known faces and events that give visibility to the country as a sign of its intentions have been achieved, everything indicates that the next thing will be to promote infrastructure .
No one doubts that, at that point, they will know how to be attractive and convincing in the eyes of others. Among the advantages of this current, the door that opens to the world to “soften” the image of a nation subjected to numerous criticisms on the international scene, which tries to show itself open within the limitations that are given by its laws and customs.
Enhance its role in the region
It also represents an attempt to reinforce its hegemony as the main power in the Middle East and promote the practice of sports among the Saudis. All this responds to an apparently measured plan, with significant investments in very popular disciplines such as golf (LIV Golf circuit) and powerful soccer markets such as the English Premier League.
There they have Newcastle, a team they have raised and who will play the Champions League next season. The feeling is therefore that the structure will not fall overnight as it could happen years ago when China turned to soccer, allocating a significant amount of money to incorporate notable figures and try to revive clubs that lived better times.
In that case, the great dependence on a sector as unstable as real estate and the irruption of the pandemic caused the dream of offering its citizens a great football event to be diluted and accompanying that with the conquest of it based on giving solidity to the quarry.