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  • How Saudi investments are impacting the world of sports: Video

    After getting rejected by Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabia has made an offer to another soccer superstar that may be too good to refuse. The Saudi club Al Hilal has proposed a world-record $332 million transfer fee to bring Kylian Mbappé from the French club Paris Saint-Germain. Michael Goldberg, senior vice president of sports finance for global credit rating firm DBRS Morningstar, discussed the business of soccer and how Saudi investments are reshaping the landscape.

  • Saudia transports 13.7m passengers in H1, international travel up 52%

    Saudia saw international passenger numbers take off, with a 52 per cent increase in travellers in the first half of the year. The airline continued a period of significant growth as it reported passenger numbers for H1 2023. The report highlights the transportation of more than 13.7m guests on domestic and international routes.

  • Chart: The World’s Most (and Least) Powerful Passports

    Singapore has the most powerful passport in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index, with its citizens able to visit 192 countries without a prior visa. Germany, Italy and Spain come in joint second place, with their citizens able to visit 190 countries. Even though the United States is a little further down the list, coming in 8th place, it still yields considerable power, enabling citizens to enter 184 countries without major restrictions. It’s a level of freedom also enjoyed by passport holders in Lithuania.

  • Israeli esports team sings national anthem and lifts flag in Saudi Arabia

    Israel's Kan broadcaster reported that singing the anthem was part of the dress rehearsal for the opening ceremony for the FIFAe World Cup finals, a competition drawing the world's best players of the FIFA 23 football video game, being held in the Saudi capital.

  • Saudi Arabia’s Investments Raise Questions of ‘Sportswashing’

    Saudi officials say that sports investments are part of Vision 2030, a broad government plan to diversify the country’s economy beyond oil. (Another controversial investment sector is technology.) They assert that sports investments will help boost foreign investment, increase domestic employment, spur tourism to Saudi Arabia, and encourage fitness in a country that struggles with obesity. Indeed, sports’ contribution to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP) almost tripled between 2016 and 2019, prior to many of the country’s more high-profile investments.

  • Israeli National Anthem Played at Saudi Arabian eSports Tournament

    Israel’s national anthem was played in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh on Tuesday at an esports tournament with Israeli competitors, likely the first time in the country’s history. An Israeli team competing in the world finals for the soccer videogame FIFA flew the Israeli flag and were greeted with Israel’s anthem Hatikvah at the tournament’s opening ceremony Tuesday after they arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday. Israeli media reported that the gaming team, ranked second in the world, flew to Riyadh via the United Arab Emirates and entered the country on their Israeli passports.

  • Opinion: A successful Saudi sports blitz takes more than money

    Equally importantly, the blitz helps strengthen Saudi Arabia’s position in the international pecking order, improve public health dogged by high rates of obesity and diabetes, turn sports into a profitable pillar of a reformed economy, boost tourism, and potentially attract badly needed foreign investment.

  • Sports and Politics in the Middle East

    The papers in the collection range widely across multiple countries and different levels of analysis. Many of the papers focus on the domestic political level, showing how football matches and their fans encapsulate local political, identity, and ethnic conflicts.

  • Stc Group to sponsor Saudi Esports Federation events

    Stc Group’s gaming and tournament platform, Stc Play, will become a sponsor of several esports events taking place in the Kingdom throughout 2023. Tournaments include Gamers8: The Land of Heroes, the Saudi League and the SEF Awards.

  • Saudi Esports Federation, Qiddiya join forces for world’s biggest esports festival

    The Saudi eSports Federation (SEF) and Qiddiya today announced their partnership ahead of the second edition of Gamers8, the biggest gaming and eSports festival worldwide. Qiddiya will be the ‘Nexus Partner’ for Gamers8: The Land of Heroes, organized by SEF, which runs for eight weeks this summer starting July 6 at Boulevard Riyadh City.