Saudi Arabia’s football spending spree has been the talk of the sporting world this summer. Teams in the country have already spent more than €700mn on new players, second only to the English Premier League. The true figure will be far higher due to the bumper salaries being offered to lure stars away from the bright lights of European football.
While agents are pocketing their cut, and ageing greats bag one last payday, one of the biggest long-term winners of this trend is Fifa, football’s global governing body.
The nascent Saudi football project kicked off in January with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, the 38-year-old Portuguese winger, who happens to be the most followed man on Instagram. The floodgates opened in June when the Saudi sovereign wealth fund was handed control of the kingdom’s top four clubs and given the nod — and the cash — to make waves.