Cristiano Ronaldo recently showcased a Saudi Arabian flag scarf to a sparse crowd, offering a gesture of defiance that mirrored the national sentiment of keeping calm under pressure. The scene followed a 3-1 victory for Al-Nassr against Uzbekistan’s Neftchi Fergana in the Asian Champions League Elite, with Ronaldo and Sadio Mané both finding the net under the management of Ange Postecoglou. Despite the on-field success, the reality of life in Riyadh has become increasingly fraught; the match was delayed due to missile strike warnings from Houthi rebels in Yemen. Who responded with rapturous cheers, c ristiano Ronaldo grabbed the scarf in the colours of the Saudi Arabian flag and waved it at the sparse but enthusiastic crowd. Encapsulating the Saudi equivalent of “Keep calm and carry on”, it was a gesture of defiance rather than a victory salute. Monday night’s Asian Champions League Elite game between Al-Nassr and the Uzbek side Neftchi Fergana had ended with a 3-1 win for the Saudi club coached by Ange Postecoglou, with Ronaldo, supported by Sadio Mané, scoring, the smattering of star names indicative of the lure of the Saudi Pro League. Yet this isn’t quite how Ronaldo and co would have anticipated life in Riyadh. We need to give them the quality of life they deserve and find them jobs.
This security alert occurred just 15 minutes before the start of the game, coming only two days after an assault on Riyadh’s King Khalid international airport left 13 people dead and over 300 injured. The volatile geopolitical climate is prompting a significant reassessment of the kingdom’s sporting ambitions, with several major events now in limbo. The Fifa esports World Cup, the Six Kings Slam tennis tournament, and next month’s Saudi International golf tournament have all seen postponements, while the cycling urban world championships in Riyadh have been cancelled entirely. Less active, we cannot rely only on oil because this will make you more dormant. As the 15 Saudi nationals among the 9/11 bombers did, the unspoken threat alluded to by al-Rumayyan is that a nation of “dormant” young men in the birthplace of Osama bin Laden could turn to radical Islam.
While Saudi authorities maintain that preparations for the upcoming Asian Cup in early 2025 remain on track, the era of unbridled expansion appears to be waning. The 2029 Saudi Winter Asian Games, for instance, have been relocated to Kazakhstan, a move attributed to the country’s natural mountainous terrain. Within the football sector, industry reports indicate that five stadiums originally planned for the 2034 World Cup may never materialize. This includes the proposed Neom stadium, which was set to be constructed at a 350-metre elevation as part of the broader, now scaled-back, ‘Line’ development project. Which was planned with an elevation of 350 metres, after huge cuts to the fantastical city development project known as the Line, one of them is the Neom stadium. And now there is the prospect that the Houthi missiles and the US war with Iran may jeopardise the best-laid Saudi state plans.
Yasir al-Rumayyan, chair of Newcastle United and governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), has previously emphasized the urgency of diversifying the Saudi economy away from oil, which he described as a potential ‘disease’ that risks rendering the population inactive. During an address to investors in Washington DC last year, al-Rumayyan noted that 75% of the Saudi population is under 35, making the creation of new employment opportunities an existential priority for the kingdom’s leadership. At a Washington DC investment thinktank the Newcastle chair, Yasir al-Rumayyan, dressed in suit and tie, very much in sync with the patrician vibe of the event, addressed hedge fund chiefs and entrepreneurs along with the private equity billionaire David Rubenstein. PIF is chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom and the man accused by US intelligence of approving the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In between banter about how the result of his golf match with Donald Trump was a “state secret”, to lecture the audience on history and why the need for Saudi to divest from oil was existential, al-Rumayyan took time. Seventy-five per cent of Saudis are under the age of 35. Yet even in Washington al-Rumayyan was strongly hinting that entrepreneurs shouldn’t come asking for money for pet projects unless they could give something back to his country beyond financial returns, explaining that from 2021 PIF had shifted investment back towards Saudi Arabia. “The trigger for us, if we want to deploy capital with asset managers, [is that] we would like to get some of the deployment back to the.
The shift in investment strategy, which began around 2021, reflects a move toward prioritizing domestic content and economic stability. PIF-backed ventures that fail to yield tangible local benefits are increasingly under scrutiny, as evidenced by the collapse of LIV Golf, which reportedly lost $6 billion before filing for bankruptcy in September. Expert Christopher Davidson suggests that pressure from the top of the Saudi hierarchy is driving these budget cuts, as the government focuses more heavily on domestic building efforts amid the ongoing conflict. According to LIV was part of that shift to leisure investments and was al-Rumayyan’s brainchild, if that’s the correct word for a project that made a, $6bn (£4.5bn) loss for PIF.
However, not all sporting investments are being treated equally. Newcastle United’s position in the Premier League is expected to remain secure, as football is likely to be ‘ringfenced’ to support the country’s 2034 World Cup bid. Other areas like esports, which offer massive audience reach with relatively low budget requirements, continue to be viewed as strategic tools for engaging young men. Despite this, the grander vision of hosting diverse global mega-events and building futuristic infrastructure is being significantly recalibrated as the kingdom faces the realities of regional warfare and economic pressure. Saudi Arabia’s hosting of football’s Asian Cup in January and February is being questioned – it insists preparations are on track – and a combination of rapidly changing geopolitics and a reality check being applied to the more quixotic projects means the kingdom’s position in the sporting landscape looks hugely different from a year ago. Unsurprisingly, Newcastle’s Carabao Cup triumph was barely mentioned. We don’t want to do the same mistakes that [other] great nations have made.”. According to “If the war affects the ability of the regime economically – by which I mean [creating] jobs – then potential for unrest grows,”, Christopher Davidson, author of From Sheikhs to Sultanism: Statecraft and Authority in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “If rulers fail to deliver on jobs for a massive youth bulge, the seductive message of online forums becomes even more compelling for young men.”. According to the reassuring news for Newcastle is that a trophy investment in the Premier League will survive the overseas investment cull. “They are reducing their spending but I think football is probably ringfenced, given they’re hosting the 2034 World Cup,”, Davidson. “I would imagine the PIF funding [for Newcastle] is secure going forward.
Ultimately, the long-term success of the Saudi Pro League and the 2034 World Cup depends heavily on factors beyond the control of sports administrators. The cessation of the conflict with the Houthis and the broader state of regional relations will remain the deciding factors in whether these sporting pipe dreams can actually be fulfilled.
