The prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salmanadmitted that he does not care about the term “imagewashing” with which he is accused of his investments in football teams and sporting events and assured that, as long as it helps him make more money, he does not care.
Saudi Arabiathrough its PIF investment fund, bought the Newcastle UnitedEditin addition to creating the LIV Golf circuit, which later joined the PGA, and owned four of the most important teams in the country, the Al-Nassr, Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal and Al-Ittihadwhich in their ranks brings together footballers such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mané, Karim Benzema and Neymar Jr.
The purchase of Newcastle led, for example, to the implementation of the third shirt last season with the colors of the Saudi country and where, this season, the choice of Saudi Arabia will play two friendlies at St James’ Park. These initiatives led Amnesty International to assert its accusations that the PIF bought the Newcastle to whiten your image.
“I don’t care what they call me”
“If whitewashing increases my GDP by 1%, then I will continue doing whitewashing,” he said. Bill Salman in the chain 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 whatever they want, but I’m going to want that 1.5%,” he added.
The actions of Saudi Arabia in sport has been widely criticized for the dubious respect for human rights prevailing in a country that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 for speaking out against the regime and where there are abuses against women, against homosexual and against freedom.
However, their investment in football, and in sport in general, has no brakes and this past summer they emerged as a great destination for footballers, with a total investment in transfers of almost 1,000 million euros.
To this we must add their attempts to host the 2030 or 2034 World Cup and they will soon host the Club World Cup.
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.
