Karim Benzema joins Al-Ittihad to become the latest Saudi sports award

Karim Benzema, one of football’s best players and a regular at Spanish giant Real Madrid for more than a decade, has agreed to join Saudi champions Al-Ittihad on a three-year deal, marking the latest gain to a kingdom. rapidly expanding its ambitions and influence in the sport.

The decision of Benzema, a 35-year-old French striker, to move to Saudi Arabia was confirmed by Al-Ittihad on Tuesday after days of rumors. While an unusual choice for a player still seen as an elite talent in one of Europe’s top leagues, his signing may not be the latest high-profile signing by the Saudi league, which is embarking on a multibillion-dollar project backed by the apparent abysmal wealth from the state-controlled Public Investment Fund, to make the kingdom a major player in world football.

Benzema’s arrival comes just months after another Saudi club lured another star, Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo, with one of the richest contracts in football history.

Below the other marquee players Lionel Messi is reportedly targeted by the Saudi league, which led Argentina to the World Cup title in Qatar in December. The salaries offered to the players are among the highest in sports history, according to interviews with agents, Saudi sports officials and consultants hired to carry out the project. All spoke on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are private.

Saudi officials hope that the presence of stars such as Ronaldo and Benzema will persuade dozens more successful players from Europe’s top leagues to follow them to the kingdom. The signing is part of an ambitious plan, supported by the highest levels of the Saudi state and funded by the Public Investment Fund, to raise the profile of the Saudi league and the country’s standing in global sport and enhance the perception of Saudi Arabia on the world stage.

Similar in scale and ambition to a Saudi Arabian-funded campaign to dominate professional golf through the year-old LIV Golf series, the football effort is a centralized plan to turn a domestic league that has long been an afterthought into a destination for top talent. to make.

The signing of Benzema, a Muslim of Algerian descent, came days after Saudi Arabia property transferred from the Saudi Premier League’s four biggest clubs to the government’s PIF by announcing that the fund had taken a 75 percent ownership stake in each team: Al-Ittihad, the newly crowned Saudi champion; Al-Nassr, which employs Ronaldo; and Al-Ahli and Al-Hilal. They are among the biggest and best-followed clubs in Saudi football.

Those four clubs are expected to be the main beneficiaries of the PIF’s new focus on raising awareness of the league. But their joint ownership of the fund is already raising questions about sporting integrity, as the rules of football’s global governing body, FIFA, and the ruling Confederation of Asian Football prohibit the same owner from controlling multiple clubs in the same league. . Saudi officials this week said they have taken steps to ensure PIF teams adhere to these regulations, but they have provided no evidence that such safeguards were in place.

The state’s involvement in football follows a surprisingly strong performance by the Saudi Arabia national team at last year’s World Cup, which included a stunning victory over Argentina. The stated aim of the project is to make the country’s top division, the Saudi Pro League, one of the top 10 national leagues in the world. The league is unlikely to become a true rival to more established leagues in Europe and elsewhere, but the PIF’s resources could destabilize the multibillion-dollar global market for players and drive up the price of top talent around the world.

The plan to gain a foothold in world football is reminiscent of a similar plan a decade ago, when China used high-profile and expensive takeovers of players and European clubs. That plan, marred by broken contracts, economic implosions and the coronavirus pandemic, now appears to be in jeopardy.

The Saudi project, government officials have said, has broader goals than just a few dozen showcase signings. The government sees sports as a promising sector in its effort to diversify the Saudi economy, and officials have also said increasing the importance of sports would help tackle the country’s obesity problem.

The Saudi plan will start on a solid financial footing: the PIF has already signed 20-year commercial deals worth tens of millions of dollars with the clubs it now controls, and it sponsors the league itself through one of the companies in its portfolio, the real estate developer Roshn.

The aim is for the top four teams to field three top foreign players each and another eight players to be split among the remaining 12 teams in the league, according to one of the people briefed on the plans to bring foreign stars to the league. , who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Critics of Saudi Arabia have labeled its heavy spending on sports as an attempt to improve the kingdom’s image abroad and divert attention from its human rights record; Saudi officials have repeatedly rejected these allegations.

It is unclear when Benzema will arrive in Jeddah, home of Al-Ittihad, now that he has pledged his future to a country with a rich footballing history and a passion for the sport.

One thing is for sure though, when he does, Al-Ittihad fans, known as some of the most passionate in the country and scoring high after winning their last league title, will be ready to roll out the welcome mat.