THE SAUDI SOVEREIGN wealth fund has a new sports investment company designed to draw “major global events” to the kingdom, which has spent recent months luring top football stars.
It will “target businesses specialised in offering unique fan engagement activities and transformative sports technology across the industry, bolstering Saudi Arabia’s position as one of the world’s leading sports and entertainment destinations”. Football clubs in the Gulf state, the world’s biggest crude exporter, have signed a host of major stars beginning with Cristiano Ronaldo last year and continuing with Karim Benzema, Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane this year, though overtures to Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi have been unsuccessful.