The cynical concept of using the power of sport to launder a country’s tarnished image has been around for a long time.
Sportswashing spans Hitler’s 1936 Berlin Olympics to Russia’s 2018 World Cup, four years after annexing Crimea.
But oil-rich Saudi Arabia, where an average of 129 executions were held each year between 2015 and 2022, is taking sportswashing into a whole new league.
This week the nation stunned the golf world by effectively taking control of a large slice of the sport – just one year after launching a multi-billion pound circuit to rival America’s PGA Tour.
The PGA and DP World Tour announced they are to merge with LIV, with Yasir al-Rumayyan, head of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, becoming chair of the new golf empire.
LIV, funded with £2bn from PIF, had poached some of the best players with mega deals, such as Phil Mickelson, who defected last year for £200m. He described Tuesday as an “awesome day”.
Others, like Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who turned down £700m and £400m respectively, will be somewhat less happy, as they’ll now have to work with LIV anyway, effectively for free.
But if you believe driving a wedge between the best golfers is the height of Saudi’s sports ambitions, think again.
It’s no coincidence the golf merger came on the same day Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema was unveiled by Saudi champs Al-Ittihad as their latest star- signing, in a deal worth £86m a year.
Or that, after Cristiano Ronaldo joined Saudi club Al Nassr for £175m a year in January, Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante is now poised to seal an £86m-a-year move to Al-Ittihad.
All those clubs – just like Newcastle United – are owned by PIF, one of the world’s wealthiest sovereign funds with estimated assets of £514bn.
It is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose aims to make Saudi Arabia one of the most powerful nations in world sport.
At first sight his Vision 2030 strategy, unveiled in 2016, seems laudable – to use the nation’s wealth to boost grassroots sports, help elite athletes to thrive and stage tournaments that inspire fans around the world.
But critics says the prince, who has overseen a rise in human rights abuses and been blamed for the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, is using sport to sanitise his country’s reputation.
Ben Freeman, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in the US, believes the golf takeover is the biggest sportswashing win by an authoritarian regime.
He said: “Their goal is to normalise Saudi Arabia on the international stage. When people across the globe think about Saudi Arabia, their government doesn’t want them thinking about Jamal Khashoggi.”
Mr Khashoggi, 59, a US-based critic of the Riyadh regime, was brutally murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
It is claimed the kingdom has targeted other activists.
Humanitarian worker Abdulrahman al-Sadhan has not made contact since 2021 when he was jailed for using a Twitter account to mock Riyadh’s rulers. Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal has said: “We’re progressing, we’re moving towards a better society, we’re moving towards a better quality of life, a better country, for the future.”
But Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at the Skema Business School in France, said as well as reflecting attention away from human rights criticism, the regime wants to avoid political unrest and lessen its reliance on oil.
He added: “As the world strives to move away from carbon fuels, the Saudi economy finds itself exposed to risk. Investing in sport overseas is one way of addressing this vulnerability.”
And with fears of social unrest, especially as 70% of Saudi’s population is under 35, focussing on sport will “address the demands of young consumers as a means of averting disaffection among them.”
So far it seems to be working, with excitement about the country’s status as a leading player in sport.
In 2021, the £300m takeover of Newcastle United brought criticism but that was soon forgotten, especially after the club secured a Champions League spot this season.
Although other football fans might not be so thankful amid rumours the Saudis are looking to lure more of the Premier League stars with huge wages
A report in 2021 found Riyadh had spent at least £1.2bn on top sporting events, including chess, tennis, boxing, snooker and Formula One.
The kingdom is believed to be working on a joint bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup with Greece and Egypt by offering to pay for new sports stadiums in the countries.
Amnesty International said the move “feels inevitable as a crowning glory to its sportswashing.”
Minky Worden, director of Human Rights Watch, said it should not be allowed to happen while the rights of woman and LGBTQ people are denied. She added the mistakes of awarding the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar must not be repeated.
Ms Worden said: “If Saudi Arabia ends up co-hosting the World Cup, it would harm FIFA’s human rights policies and reward Saudi Arabia’s escalating repression. This idea deserves a red card.”
