The Saudis are not bothered: If sportwashing will increase GDP by 1%, I will keep on doing it

A collision of two completely different cultures. Western democratic and Middle Eastern, despotic. There must be disagreement, but Saudi Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman doesn't care too much about accusations that his country is washing its reputation through sports, not just football.

It is, after all, a commonly known thing. The Saudis are slowly opening up to the world and don't want to reveal their dark side. With huge investments in sports, they show only luxury, financial supremacy over the collective West. And although it bothers some people, and the term "sportwashing" is increasingly used in stories about Saudi investments, Bin Salman honestly points out that he is not too bothered.

"If it will increase my country's GDP (gross domestic product) by one percent, then we will continue doing it. I'm not interested in that term. In GDP, I have a growth of one percent from sports, and I aim for another 1.5. Call it what you want, we will get that 1.5 percent," Bin Salman said bluntly while speaking to Fox.

Westerners will continue to talk about human rights violations - last year 81 people sentenced to death were executed in one day - oppression of women, criminalization of homosexuality, insufficient freedom of speech, war in Yemen... The Saudis will continue to spend billions of their oil. All within the "Saudi Vision 2030" project.

The powerful PIF fund, which has assets of around 580,000,000,000 euros, has already bought Newcastle, brought numerous football aces to the four biggest Saudi clubs (Al-Ahli, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr), in December the country will organize the Club World Cup, it is expected that in 2030 or, more realistically, in 2034, it will also host the national teams' World Cup.

That's not all, Formula 1 held its first race in Saudi Arabia in 2021, prestigious golf tournaments are also already happening there, Briton Anthony Joshua has already boxed in Jeddah and Riyadh, and a five-year contract was signed for the "Next Gen ATP finals" competition, the Arabs want to host the world's best tennis players...

And everyone else wants their money. Which means - "sportwashing" continues until further notice.