The journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. The CIA subsequently concluded that this was ordered by the kingdom’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, though he denies it. The murder was so high-profile, and the details so horrifying, that concern about optics prevailed even where moral qualms were not a priority. Prominent business figures dropped out of a glitzy investment conference dubbed “Davos in the desert”. Joe Biden, then running to be the Democrats’ presidential candidate, said he would make the country a “pariah”.
But that was then, and this is now – now, being when four of the world’s 10 richest sportspeople owe their place on the list to Saudi money. Cristiano Ronaldo took first place thanks to his move to the Saudi club Al-Nassr, while golfers Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson shot into the top 10 after joining the LIV Golf tour. The only surprising thing about Lionel Messi’s suspension from Paris St-Germain this week is that the footballer is paying a price for his lucrative relationship with Saudi Arabia – albeit for his failure to turn up for training because he was on a trip there as a “tourism ambassador”, rather than due to reputational concerns. (PSG is itself owned by Qatar, which has its own grim record on human rights.)
