How football serves MBS new ambitions and cleans his image.

As we all know, MBS (Mohammed Ben Salman), has great plans for his country. The 37 years old prince has now a new weapon: football. The recent transfer of the Brazilian star Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain to Al-Hilal illustrates this strategy which seeks to develop Saudi Arabia’s “soft power”.
This strategy offers the country several advantages. The prince and its nearly unlimited financial means intend to transform Saudi Arabia into a world-famous place for sports fans. Sport is at the same time a great source of income and a way for MBS to stay popular to the young population of Saudi Arabia (more than 60% of the population is less than 35 years old).
Nevertheless, we must not forget that through this new policy, MBS wants to clean his image in the world, by seducing people with a sport that is meant to gather people all around the world. The ghost of Jamal Khashoggi (the journalist murdered by the Saudi power in 2018) still haunts MBS and tarnishes his country’s attractivity. Now it seems that everyone has started to forget this story, and begins to watch the Saudi football league, as if nothing has happened, as if the number of death penalties in the country wasn’t increasing each year…

Dimitri Janoray