Mohammed Ben Salman, alias “MBS”, has big ambitions – and big money to fulfill them. De facto ruler of Saudi Arabia at 37, alongside his aging father, King Salman, the crown prince wants to transform the Gulf’s largest oil monarchy, renowned for its Wahhabi conservatism, into a modern regional power likely to attract best foreign talents to diversify its economy. He has a plan for this: “Vision 2030”.
His last weapon is the round ball. The transfer, formalized Tuesday August 15, of the Brazilian player Neymar, star of Paris Saint-Germain, to Al-Hilal, one of the clubs of Riyadh, devotes the strategy of “MBS” to make world-class sport one of of the main instruments of Saudi “soft power”.
His conquest of footballing stars began this year with the acquisition of Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo, five times Ballon d’Or, by the Al-Nassr club, which pays him the highest salary in football history. : 200 million euros per season. Then it was the Frenchman Karim Benzema, from Real Madrid, also Ballon d’Or, who gave in to the sirens of the star club of Jeddah, Al-Ittihad, on a contract of 588 million euros. He was followed by another Frenchman, N’Golo Kanté, who also signed for three years in Jeddah. Only Messi has so far resisted the temptation of a check for 360 million euros from the Al-Ittihad club, to which he preferred the charms of Miami.
soft power tool
These football stars may be in their thirties, but they can still attract people – and audiences – and offer an international veneer to the Saudi championship, which lacked it only a few months ago. This offensive panics the football planet, where millions are commonly counted in tens, less often in hundreds. But “MBS” has deep pockets and does not look at the expense. He has seen how Qatar has managed to carve out a world rating in football and he aims to organize the World Cup in Saudi Arabia in 2034.
The strategy of “MBS” is not limited to poaching football champions. Thanks to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the kingdom has also invested in Formula 1 and created an international dissident golf circuit. Football clubs abroad interest him: he has already bought Newcastle Utd.
What does “MBS” want? Sport as a source of income and as an instrument of soft power is part of its overall post-oil economic diversification plan. It is also the way to seduce Saudi youth, in a country where two thirds of the population are under 35 years old. Unlike in Qatar, football is a popular sport in Saudi Arabia, which already has an infrastructure of stadiums where, as a supreme privilege, women are admitted.
Of course, the ambitious crown prince is also seeking to whitewash an image seriously tainted by human rights abuses and the growing number of death row executions. It is difficult to erase the macabre assassination, in 2018, of the journalist critical of the regime Jamal Khashoggi in the premises of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. But football players, including party-goer Neymar, aren’t the only ones who find the kingdom to be social. Presidents Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron have reconnected with “MBS”, which has also just been invited to the United Kingdom. Why would we expect more moral scruples from athletes than from politicians?