“I will continue to whitewash my image”: the prince of Saudi Arabia reaffirms his intentions to earn more money from sport

Photo: Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images

Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabiaadmitted that he doesn’t care about the term “image washing” with which he is accused with his investments in soccer teams and sporting events like the LIV Golf, and he assured that as long as it helps him earn more money, he doesn’t care.

Saudi Arabia, through its PIF investment fundbought Newcastle United two years ago, in addition to creating the LIV Golf circuit, which later joined the PGA, and owning four of the most important teams in the country, the Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihad, that in their ranks bring together footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mané and Karim Benzema.

The purchase of Newcastle led, for example, to the implementation of a third shirt last season with the colors of the Saudi country and that this season the Saudi Arabia team will play two friendlies at St. James Park. These initiatives led Amnesty International to insist on its accusations that PIF bought Newcastle to whiten its image.

“If whitewashing is going to increase my GDP by 1%, then I’ll keep doing whitewashing.“Bil Salman told Fox News.

“I don’t care what they call it. If I have 1% growth thanks to sports, I’m going to look for 1.5%. Call it what you want, but I’m going to want that 1.5%“he added.

Saudi Arabia’s actions in sport have been widely criticized for the dubious respect for human rights that prevails in a country that murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 for speaking out against the regime and in which there are abuses against women, against homosexuals and against freedom of expression.

Even so, their investment in football, and in sport in general, has no brakes and this past summer they emerged as the great destination for footballers, with a total investment in transfers of almost 1,000 million euros.

To this we must add their attempts to house the 2030 or 2034 World Cup and that they will soon host the FIFA Club World Cup.

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