“Now the boot is on the other foot.”
English saying
It’s hard to look at the world sports scene without bumping into Saudi Arabia. Petrotrillionaires besiege us, like a virus that aspires to the pandemic. The question is whether it will be stopped, like corona, or whether the sheikh virus will eat the world.
We have Formula 1, recently held in Jeddah; the Asian Winter Games, tied for 2029; the declared desire to celebrate the men’s soccer World Cup in 2030; the Spanish Super Cup, of course; the LIV, the richest golf championship there is; the plan to sponsor the women’s soccer World Cup this year; the signing of Cristiano, and the possible signing of Messi, by Saudi clubs; and now, geez, they are in the running to buy Manchester United, surely the most fan-favored team on Earth.
They already own Newcastle United, which gives us the possibility in a not too distant day of witnessing what we would call the Saudi derby in the North of England in the Premier League. Let’s see if one of these days they buy Barça, perhaps at a discounted price in the Second Division.
The cliché is that the Saudis are taking over world sport in order to launder their image. Sportswashing, they call it in English. But perhaps the goal is both simpler and more sinister. Simple in the sense that it obeys in large part to the eternal impulses of greed and vanity. We already have the Rolls Royces, the superyachts, the palaces. What do we have left? Oh yes: the entities that carry the most emotions on all continents, the great players and the great football clubs.
The most sinister aspect consists of nothing more and nothing less than resorting to sport as one more element in the tectonic movement detected in the world in favor of autocracies, against the Western democratic bloc. China is the giant in this contest and we see it there, allying with Russia, colonizing half of Africa, brokering agreements that have resulted in an unexpected understanding between those old enemies, Iran and Saudi Arabia. India has been until today the largest democracy on the planet but it shows signs that it is heading towards authoritarianism.
And meanwhile, there is the United States, split in two, with a former and possibly future president who aspires to be Kim Jong Un when he grows up and who is going with his friend Putin in the war in Ukraine; there is the fallen British empire, devouring itself with its Brexit, consumed by questions as transcendental as whether or not to allow ex-footballer Gary Lineker to say what he wants on Twitter, while they sell their jewels to the highest bidder; there is Latin America, with its strong men in power; there is Italy, in the hands of the extreme right; there is Spain, which is not clear if yes is yes or if no is no.
Sportswashing? Don’t make the Saudis laugh. The idea assumes that we in the West rule, that we are the axis around which the Earth orbits, that there will be fearful consequences if they fail to make us forget that we are against, for example, the mass execution of political opponents.
Well no. There are reasons to think that it will be rather the other way around. Such will be the Saudi control of international sport that we will be the ones who will have to convince them to let us play. Equality for women? Gay marriages? The right to legally change sex? You are degenerates. You go against the rules of God and nature. Either we see change, or you convince us that you are going to restore decency, or you signal that you are going to restore what we consider to be human rights, or we will impose boycotts.
Yes, boycotts. We to you, chulitos. If you don’t wash your face, we will mobilize our Chinese, Russian, Iranian, Hindu and North Korean friends to deny you the possibility of holding World Cups and Olympic Games in your countries. Perhaps we will even block you from participating in the big sporting events.
Or even (let’s not rule anything out), the Saudis and their friends from the Gulf end up replacing the Champions League with a Super League made up only of clubs that they have acquired. The stakes are high. It all depends on whether we will let ourselves be bought. The signs are not encouraging.
