Saudi Arabia offered to pay for new sports stadiums in Greece and Egypt if they agreed to team up with the oil-rich Gulf heavyweights in a joint bid to host the 2030 soccer World Cup, Politico can reveal.
In return, the Saudis would get three-quarters of all matches under the proposed deal.
The dramatic proposal – likely worth billions of euros in construction costs – was discussed in a private conversation in the summer of 2022 between Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, according to a senior official familiar with the matter.
A second senior official with knowledge of private discussions on the bid told POLITICO that Saudi Arabia is prepared to “absolutely reduce the costs” of hosting for Greece and Egypt, but 75 percent of the massive 48-team tournament will be hosted by the Gulf itself. will be held in State.
It is not clear whether the offer was taken up. But the three countries are now working on a joint proposal to host the 2030 tournament, a move that has triggered a feedback against Greece.
Riyadh’s megabucks offer to Greece, first reported here, will fuel criticism that Saudi Arabia is effectively using its astronomical wealth to buy the World Cup by forming a trans-continental alliance to cleverly take advantage of the voting system. is trying
In an effort to persuade members of football’s world governing body, FIFA, of the merits of the Saudi-led bid, the proposed tournament would see matches held across three continents, providing geographic balance. Qatar’s bid to host the tournament in 2022, just eight years after it is the only Middle East World Cup, will be unlikely to succeed.
The Saudis’ main competitors are the combined dialects of Spain, Portugal and Ukraine from Europe, and the South American dialects from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.
The decision to host the 2030 World Cup comes down to a public vote by the entire FIFA Congress, which is made up of more than 200 member associations from around the world. If African countries were attracted by the presence of Egypt and Saudi Investment nearby africaRallying behind the bid, and Asian nations doing the same, while Greece siphons off some European votes, the Saudi-led proposal would have a strong chance of winning.
POLITICO has contacted all three governments for comment. The Greek and Saudi governments declined to comment, and the Egyptian government did not respond to POLITICO’s requests. FIFA also declined to comment.
‘new World Order’
The hosting of the World Cup would be the culmination of Saudi Arabia’s ambitious strategy to dominate major sporting events. Successes include winning hosting rights world championship boxing bouts, european football And formula One motor racing, building your own Rebel Golf Tour, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund also bought a major English football club and the country will Hosted the Asian Cup of Football For the first time in 2027.
But Saudi Arabia’s desire to stage the World Cup goes beyond reasons of sporting prestige, according to a regional expert.
“Saudi Arabia is strategically trying to position itself as the Afro-Eurasian hub – the center of a new world order,” said Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Schema business school in Paris. “This position will enable Saudi Arabia to exert significant power and influence over a vast geographic region, which it seeks to achieve by building relationships with key partners.”
“The multipolar staging of the World Cup with Egypt and Greece would be neither charity nor generosity. Rather, it would be part of a wider plan, which the government in Riyadh is enabling through the potential gift of stadiums,” he said.
The Saudi move to host the tournament has drawn outrage among human rights watchdogs, who point to the country’s brutal treatment LGBTQ+ Community And migrant workers,
“Saudi Arabian repression should not be rewarded with a World Cup,” said Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch. “As long as Saudi Arabia discriminates against LGBT people and punishes women for human rights activism, and does not have protections for the migrant laborers who will build new stadiums and facilities, the country cannot meet human rights requirements Which FIFA already has. is in place.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup was overshadowed by criticism of the Gulf state over its treatment of migrant workers.
bad memories
In Greece, paying for sports infrastructure is a touchy subject, where it is seen as a monument to government extravagance.
Back in 2004, Athens hosted the Olympic Games, which cost Greece €9 billion. However, most of the infrastructure was left After the Olympic flame is extinguished.
As the country entered a decade-long depression and had to resort to relief program To avoid bankruptcy, the Olympics became a source of anger for the Greeks. questioned Did the Games push their country further into recession? Nearly two decades after the Olympics, many of the 30 venues remain unused, while some have been demolished.
Since coming to power in 2019, Greece’s conservative New Democracy government has sought to deepen ties with the Saudis and other Gulf countries as a response to arch-rival Turkey’s expansionist policy in the region.
Mitsotakis has visited Riyadh several times, Greece has delivered military equipment and troops to Saudi Arabia and last July Athens became the first capital of the European Union. Visited by bin salman personally approvedWashington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered, according to declassified US intelligence.
who is bin salman back to the good books of the west Thanks to the energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine, Greece signed several bilateral agreements in Athens last summer, pledging to make Greece an energy hub for the delivery of “green hydrogen”.
Saudi Arabia has traditionally enjoyed close diplomatic relations with Egypt. Bin Salman met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo last June where he signed billion euro investment deals And discussed “Bilateral, regional cooperation.”
A decision on hosting the 2030 World Cup will be made in 2024, with the bidding process to be officially set later this year.
Nektaria Stamouli and Nicolas Camut contributed reporting.