In a few short years, Saudi Arabia has become one of the biggest players in world sports. Capitalising on the pandemic, it has unleashed its oil-backed financial power and made inroads in most of the world’s top sporting industries.
It’s growing dominance over golf, inroads into the Premier League and eye-wateringly expensive deals for some of football’s biggest stars are just a few indicators of the kingdom's takeover.
But this has been met with widespread criticism. Accusations of sport-washing and human rights abuses have followed, coming from industry insiders and fan groups alike.
In this episode of The i Podcast, we are unpacking why the Middle-Eastern country is making such a bold move and the major impact it is having on teams and communities,
Joining us is northern football correspondent Mark Douglas and chief football writer Daniel Storey to shed light on the events as they have unfolded and the consequences for “the beautiful game”.
We also have professor of sport and geopolitical economy at SKEMA business school in Paris, Simon Chadwick, to provide his expert insight on the Saudi expansion and what it means in geopolitical terms.
Produced by Albert Evans, the assistant producer was Sebastian Piette Pereira. Edited by Julia Webster.
Music featured is by Lexin Music - licensed via Pixabay.
Check out their music here:
https://pixabay.com/users/lexin_music-28841948/
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!