‘He sold himself to the devil’ – Messi, 2030, and a very uncomfortable deal with Saudi Arabia - The Athletic

Argentina versus Saudi Arabia at the World Cup in Qatar.

The 2026 World Cup will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico but bidding for the 2030 edition opened in June this year with the eventual winner to be selected at the 74th FIFA congress in 2024.

This May, however, a fresh development arose when Messi, arguably the greatest and most famous footballer on the planet, signed a lucrative agreement to promote the state of Saudi Arabia.

The first thing to say is that the agreement is to promote tourism in that country, rather than a 2030 World Cup bid itself.

A World Cup bid for 2030, therefore, seems heavily linked to the overall vision and promoting tourism does much to aid that cause.

Dennis Horak, the Canadian ambassador to Saudi between 2015 and 2018, explains to The Athletic: “The whole opening of the entertainment and sports sphere is a big part of Vision 2030.

With the LIV Golf (funded by Saudi Arabia) and now with these sorts of high-level sponsorships such as Messi, they’re trying to take it to another level and make it more global.

The Daily Telegraph previously reported Cristiano Ronaldo rejected an offer worth more than £5million per year to promote Saudi tourism and sources close to the negotiations, who wished not to be named to protect business relationships, confirmed Ronaldo had turned down an approach!

Representatives for Messi said they could not clarify the figures involved owing to the terms of confidentiality in the agreement, while the Saudi government did not respond to emails from The Athletic.

“This is not his first visit to the kingdom and it will not be the last,” said Ahmed al-Khateeb, the Saudi minister of tourism, in a tweet that showed Messi’s welcome at King Abdulaziz International Airport.

I am pleased to welcome Lionel Messi to Saudi Arabia We are excited for you to explore the treasures of the Red Sea, the Jeddah Season and our ancient history.

The post was labelled as a “paid partnership” with Visit Saudi, which is a subsidiary company of the Saudi Tourism Authority.

The Visit Saudi website now has a Messi landing page, “Lionel Messi wants you to unleash your inner thrill-seeker and uncover the unimagined.

Messi’s support team declined to comment on whether his position promoting Saudi may conflict with his own country’s attempts to stage a World Cup in 2030, just as they declined to comment on how many times he will visit Saudi as part of his agreement to promote tourism.

In 2012, Messi visited Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Horak, the former Canadian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, was expelled from the country in 2018 in response to Canadian statements in defence of human rights activists detained in the kingdom.

It would be another symbol of where we (Saudi Arabia) are in the world, in his eyes.

Given the profile he has internationally, it gives a greater sense of normality to (Saudi), so I think this would be seen as helping their bid (for the 2030 World Cup)

And the more you can cozy up, either directly or indirectly, to world celebrities and then can burnish the brand of Saudi Arabia accordingly, I think he thinks will reflect well on (Al-Sheikh) as well.”

Khalid Al-Jabri, whose brother and sister remain jailed, told The Athletic: “I don’t mind players such as Messi going to play in Saudi as part of a team, because I don’t think Saudi fans should be deprived of that opportunity just because of atrocities committed by those who govern the country

What I have a problem with is Messi the individual making himself a tool for Saudi sportswashing

On television screens in the city, adverts of Messi promoting trips to Saudi Arabia are now broadcast on Qatari television

The Athletic was not afforded a question in what was a busy media session but suffice to say Messi took more than a dozen questions and not one from the South American or Arabian media centred on his deal to promote Saudi Arabia

The Saudi hopes were raised once more on Sunday evening when MBS sat beside Infantino at this World Cup’s first match, while the pair were also seen socialising together in Bali at the G20 summit last week

Sources close to the Saudi state, who wished not to be named to protect business relationships, sense a growing confidence that their 2030 World Cup bid will be the preferred option, with a joint bid alongside Egypt and Greece likely to deflect the scrutiny that would come with a solo bid