Saudi Arabia has struck more than 900 sponsorship deals across the sporting landscape and made dozens of formalised agreements with football federations as it prepares for a controversial coronation to host the 2034 World Cup.
The country’s stranglehold has been laid bare by Play the Game, a Danish-run organisation that aims to promote democracy, transparency and freedom of expression in sport. It maps what its authors describe as Saudi Arabia’s “strategic effort to reshape the Kingdom’s global image while leveraging sport as a tool of geopolitical influence” and underlines how football, in particular, has been targeted in the buildup to the World Cup announcement next week.
