Just as the Berlin Games changed Hitler, Beijing Games changed China, Qatar World Cup changed Qatar, and Sochi Olympics and 2018 World Cup changed Putin, this Middle Eastern country hopes the 2034 World Cup will promote them globally. Also: What’s the connection between Georgia’s new president and the Manchester derby?
Cristiano Ronaldo is probably the most identifiable athlete with Saudi Arabia today, but those with sharp memories will remember that Lionel Messi preceded him in this matter. In 2021, he signed an agreement with the country’s tourism authorities to be “tourism ambassador,” meaning a few Instagram posts for several million dollars – not really much compared to the earnings of footballers playing there.
But journalist Karim Zidan, in an investigative piece for The New York Times, revealed one of the clauses in Messi’s agreement. Messi would receive his money, almost without work, provided he doesn’t do anything “that would tarnish Saudi Arabia’s image.” So the motivation is clear. Everyone who receives money from Saudi Arabia is obligated to stay silent. Even Messi, who almost never says anything unrelated to football, was contractually obligated to stay silent. This is the answer for those who think the World Cup in Saudi Arabia is a legitimate attempt to promote the country through tourism, that there’s some similarity between Saudi Arabia and the UAE to which many Israelis were exposed through the Abraham Accords.
In Saudi Arabia, women belong to men. Manal al-Otaibi, one of the Middle East’s bravest women, sits in prison for protesting against laws that prevented women from driving cars. She is, by the way, a sports trainer by profession – but this doesn’t interest world sports authorities.
If you woke up and saw that the World Cup will be in Saudi Arabia, you probably were sleeping. Almost every heavyweight boxing match is held there. The richest golf events, the women’s tennis year-end tournament, a prestigious tennis invitational tournament that even attracted Rafael Nadal in his final days in the sport. And even the ESPORT world is swimming in Saudi money today. And these are the minor issues – after all, these are international sporting events that move between countries.
Official Italian and Spanish football matches, Super Cup tournaments, are held there. Rules are changed for Saudi Arabia. According to an investigation that appeared in Play The Game – Saudi Arabia funds 346 entities in Western sports. Almost everything since 2016. And Saudi Arabia will change and open up to the West, just as the Berlin Games changed Hitler, the Beijing Games changed China, Qatar World Cup changed Qatar, and the Sochi Olympics and 2018 World Cup changed Putin. The understanding that the West is corrupt and can be easily bought.
The Man Stirring Georgia Another person whom exposure to Western sports didn’t particularly change is Mikheil Kbilashvili, Georgia’s new president. In 1996, he scored his only Premier League goal for Manchester City, ironically against Manchester United. He was elected by a 224-1 majority in parliament – not because he’s particularly popular but because the opposition boycotted the process. His party is considered pro-Putin and its victory in the elections, under suspicions of fraud, is an achievement for the Russian ruler – who actually invaded the country while the world was busy with peace and brotherhood at the Beijing Games.
His career in England didn’t take off after that goal, but Niall Quinn, his teammate in that mediocre City team, described him as “a smiling guy who was very happy to be in Manchester.” He’s the second president to play for City! George Weah, truly a legendary player and future president of Liberia, played for the team on loan. In fact, Kbilashvili played there before him but became president after him.
Sport and international politics can still be something nice. Papua New Guinea is one of the world’s most exotic countries. About 700 languages are spoken there by peoples, some of whom live in the Stone Age. Not that it doesn’t interest international powers – especially neighbor Australia, which seeks to block Chinese influence in the island nation to its north.
Recently it was revealed that as part of a cooperation agreement, the Australian government will fund a Papua New Guinea team in the Australian Rugby League. The less known and more violent and fast-paced version of rugby is popular mainly in Sydney and Brisbane. The governments will jointly invest a monstrous sum of 400 million in the team. This is in a sport where 200 thousand dollars is considered a good salary.