the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and prime minister, Mohammed bin Salmanannounced on Monday the launch of a project for the private sector to invest in the kingdom’s sports clubs and in which part of the awarding to companies will begin in the last quarter of this year, official sources reported, during the period expected Many soccer stars act in the ranks of Saudi teams.
“The project consists of two main parts. The first involves the approval of public sector companies and organizations that invest in sports clubs, with investment amounts corresponding to the value of each club. The second part involves the privatization of sports clubs from the last quarter of 2023,” according to the official Saudi news agency SPA.
This project is based on “promoting investment opportunities and an attractive investment environment in the sports sector; promoting professionalism and financial sustainability of sports clubs; as well as improving competitiveness and infrastructure of the clubs,” SPA said.
The agency indicated that this privatization aims to “accelerate development in a number of sports throughout the kingdom, further increasing participation, providing modern facilities, increasing competition and training future champions.”
In addition, this project aims to increase the revenue of the Saudi soccer league association from 450 million riyals ($120 million) to more than 1.8 billion riyals ($480 million) a year.
According to figures provided by the SPA, participation in sports has gone from 13% in 2015 to close to 50% in 2022 and the number of sports federations has increased from 32 in 2015 to more than 95 in 2022.
“With more than 80% of Saudi Arabia’s population playing, attending or following football, the project is primarily focused on the country’s national sport, which is also experiencing unprecedented growth,” SPA said, explaining that the league of Saudi professional football has players from more than 40 different countries.
Among them are Cristiano Ronaldowhich was signed at the end of last year by the club al nassrwhile the French Karim is already expected Benzema join the team as soon as possible Al Ittihad after saying goodbye to Real Madrid.
The name of other soccer stars, such as Leo Messiis among the possible foreign athletes who can be recruited for the Arab country’s clubs.
The Saudi kingdom has announced several mega-projects to modernize and open up to international tourism in recent years as part of its 2030 Vision, including multi-million dollar investments in infrastructure and -urban development, aviation, tourism and sports, among others.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
