Karim Benzema, certainly one of soccer’s greatest gamers and a fixture on the Spanish big Real Madrid for greater than a decade, has agreed to hitch the Saudi champion Al-Ittihad on a three-year contract that may make him the most recent prize acquisition for a kingdom quickly increasing its ambitions and affect in sports activities.
The resolution by Benzema, a 35-year-old French striker, to maneuver to Saudi Arabia was confirmed by Al-Ittihad on Tuesday after days of rumors. While it’s an uncommon alternative for a participant nonetheless perceived as an elite expertise in certainly one of Europe’s greatest leagues, his acquisition won’t be the final high-profile signing by the Saudi league, which is embarking on a billion-dollar undertaking, backed by the seemingly bottomless wealth of the state-controlled Public Investment Fund, to show the dominion into a significant participant in world soccer.
Benzema’s arrival will come solely months after a unique Saudi membership lured one other star, the Portuguese ahead Cristiano Ronaldo, with one of many richest contracts in soccer historical past.
Among the different marquee gamers stated to have been focused by the Saudi league is Lionel Messi, who led Argentina to the World Cup title in December in Qatar. The salaries supplied to the gamers are a number of the largest in sports activities historical past, in line with interviews with brokers, Saudi sports activities officers and consultants employed to execute the undertaking. All spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of the negotiations are non-public.
Saudi officers are hoping that the presence of stars like Ronaldo and Benzema will persuade dozens extra profitable gamers from Europe’s high leagues to comply with them to the dominion. The signings are a part of an formidable plan, supported on the highest ranges of the Saudi state and bankrolled by the Public Investment Fund, to lift the profile of the Saudi league and the nation’s standing in international sports activities, and alter perceptions of Saudi Arabia on the world stage.
Similar in scale and ambition to a Saudi-financed marketing campaign to dominate skilled golf via the year-old LIV Golf collection, the soccer effort is a centralized plan to show a home league that has lengthy been an afterthought right into a vacation spot for elite expertise.
The signing of Benzema got here days after Saudi Arabia handed possession of the Saudi Premier League’s 4 greatest golf equipment to the PIF from the federal government by asserting the fund had taken a 75 % possession stake in every staff: Al-Ittihad, the newly topped Saudi champion; Al-Nassr, which employs Ronaldo; and Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal. They are among the many greatest and greatest adopted golf equipment in Saudi soccer.
Those 4 golf equipment are anticipated to be the first beneficiaries of the PIF’s new deal with elevating the league’s profile. But their widespread possession by the fund is already elevating questions on sporting integrity, because the guidelines of soccer’s international governing physique, FIFA, and Asian soccer’s ruling confederation prohibit the identical proprietor to manage a number of golf equipment in the identical competitors. Saudi officers stated this week that they’ve taken measures to make sure the PIF-owned groups adjust to these rules, however they supplied no proof that such safeguards had been in place.
The state’s involvement in soccer comes on the heels of a surprisingly sturdy efficiency by Saudi Arabia’s nationwide staff eventually yr’s World Cup, the place the staff’s run included a shocking victory over Argentina. The undertaking’s said purpose is to make the nation’s high division, the Saudi Pro League, one of many world’s 10 greatest home leagues. The league is unlikely to grow to be a real rival of extra established leagues in Europe and elsewhere, however the sources of the PIF may destabilize the multibillion-dollar international marketplace for gamers, and drive up the worth of high abilities world wide.
The plan to purchase a foothold in world soccer is paying homage to an analogous one a decade in the past by which China used high-profile and high-dollar acquisitions of gamers and European golf equipment. That plan, marred by damaged contracts, financial implosions and the coronavirus pandemic, now seems to be in retreat.
The Saudi undertaking, authorities officers have stated, has broader goals than just some dozen showcase signings. The authorities sees sports activities as a promising sector because it makes an attempt to diversify the Saudi economic system, and officers even have stated elevating the significance of sports activities would assist deal with the issue of weight problems within the nation.
The Saudi plan will begin on stable monetary footing: The PIF already has signed 20-year business agreements value tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} with the golf equipment it now controls, and it sponsors the league itself via one of many firms in its portfolio, the actual property developer Roshn.
The purpose is for the 4 greatest groups to area three high overseas gamers every, and for one more eight gamers to be distributed among the many remaining 12 groups within the league, in line with one of many folks briefed on the plans to carry overseas stars to the league, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to debate them publicly.
Critics of Saudi Arabia have labeled its heavy spending in sports activities as an try to enhance the dominion’s picture overseas and divert consideration away from its human rights document; Saudi officers have repeatedly rejected these allegations.
It is unclear when Benzema will arrive in Jeddah, the place Al-Ittihad is predicated, now that he has dedicated his future to a rustic that has a wealthy soccer historical past and the place the game is passionately adopted.
One factor is definite, nevertheless: Whenever he does, Al-Ittihad followers, generally known as a number of the most passionate within the nation and driving excessive after successful their newest league title, might be able to roll out the welcome mat.
Source: www.nytimes.com