Sportswashing: Is Saudi Arabia using sports to rebrand its image?

Can Saudi spend away its human rights problems?
According to the Guardian newspaper, Saudi Arabia's spent at least $6bn on sports deals since 2021. Big money has been spent to lure high profile footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema and recently a potentially record breaking bid of £259m was made for Kylian Mbappe.
But critics of Saudia Arabia and its human rights record say that this is 'sportswashing'.
Sport is just one part of Saudi Arabia's long term 'Vision 2030' project to remake the country. Vision 2030 includes stuff like the NEOM eco area, religious tourism, and investing in companies across the world like Uber and Nintendo.
0:00 - Intro
0:36 - Saudi football spending
1:44 - Saudi gaming industry spending
2:36 - Where's the money from?
3:09 - Vision 2030
4:27 - Accusations of human rights abuses
(📸: AP, PA, Sky News, CBS, J.LEAGUE International, Nintendo)
#news #saudi #saudiarabia #sports #ronaldo #mbappe #henderson #lewishamilton #vision2030 #mohammedbinsalman #oil #aramco #pif #benzema #firmino #kante

[@fahdsabya]

I am proud to be Saudi and thank you for the beautiful explanation