The loss of Argentina against Saudi Arabia in the World Cup focuses on the relationship of the Argentine star Lionel Messi with the Middle Eastern country, and their role in defining who will be Cup hosts in 2030.
The 2026 World Cup will take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico (the competition will be open to 48 teams), but the “tender” for the 2030 editionwhich opened in June this year, is yet to be defined: the winner(s) will be announced at the 2024 FIFA Congress.
They already compete for being the venue Spain, Portugal and Ukraine: the latter invited by the Iberians to attract anti-Russian sympathies and some compensation for having given the 2018 World Cup to Vladimir Putin.
But they also sign up for that bid Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chilewith the excuse of the centenary of the 1930 World Cup in Uruguay, the first global soccer competition, in which the locals beat Argentina 4-2 in the final.
“The South American commitment for 2030 is very strong. The region is a generator of talent that is expressed throughout the world. Furthermore, in the centenary of the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930It would be an appropriate place”, endorsed Fernando Marín, one of the organizers.
The South American joint bid was first announced in 2017, when the Uruguayan Luis Suarez and Lionel Messiteammates at Barcelona at the time, wore the numbers 20 and 30 on their shirts. According to Marín, “Messi will surely be the standard-bearer of the World Cup.”
But Messi’s heart can collide with his pocket: the other will be a combined effort to compete for the location of the 2030 World Cup made up of Egypt, Greece and Saudi Arabiawith whom the Argentine 10 has a million-dollar contract.
The agreement is for promote tourism in that country more than a candidacy for World Cup 2030but nothing boosts tourism like the Cup: Saudi Arabia has already presented its “Vision 2030” project for a “transformative social and economic reform that opens Saudi Arabia to the world”.
The length and terms of Messi’s deal have not been made public. But it is known that Cristiano Ronaldo rejected an offer worth more than 6.5 million dollars per year to promote Saudi tourism -according to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph-, and The Washington Post suggests that Messi’s deal with Saudi Arabia could be worth up to five times as much than the figure offered to the Portuguese. An amount in line with what they would have offered to Tiger Woods for promoting an Arab golf circuit: between 700 and 800 million dollars.
The Saudis first promoted the Argentine as their tourist ambassador in May of this year during a trip to Jeddah, a city along the Red Sea. “This is not his first visit to the kingdom and it will not be his last,” Ahmed al-Khateeb, Saudi Arabia’s tourism minister, said in a tweet showing Messi being welcomed at King Abdulaziz International Airport.
Later, Messi He posted a photo of himself on a yacht watching the Saudi sunset. “Discovering the Red Sea #VisitSaudi”, was read at the bottom of the image on Instagram, where Messi has more than 370 million followers. The post was tagged as a “paid partnership” with Visit Saudi, which is a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Tourism Authority.
Later, Messi joined Princess Haifa Al-Saud, Deputy Minister of Tourism, on a tour of ancient Jeddah. “I’m glad you were mesmerized by its essence, heritage and beauty,” Princess Haifa celebrated on Twitter.
and the web Visit Saudi has on its home page the captain of the Argentine National Team: “Lionel Messi wants you to unleash your thrill seeker inside and discover the unimaginable. Whether you travel to discover new things or old things.
Messi visited Saudi Arabia for the first time in 2012. And since then, the relationship has become very close with Turki Al SheikhChairman of the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority, whose goal is to promote social and economic growth in the country.
Al Sheikh, owner of the Almería football club of the Spanish League, he is the one who approached Diego Maradona, the Brazilians Cafú, Roberto Carlos and Ronaldinho, the Italian defender Leonardo Bonucci and the Dutchman Patrick Kluivert, among others, as Saudi ambassadors to the world.
Al Sheikh, the former security guard of the Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (who would have ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggibut won US immunity because of his business ties to Donald Trump), is a key figure in the regime and has prevented some attempts to overthrow it.
Soccer fan, has been the architect of the match between Brazil and Argentina at Saudi Arabia 2019, where his football club Almería posted a clip on social media of Messi and Al-Sheikh hugging in the tunnel before the match with the caption “two lions”.
A relationship with countless posts on networks (Messi greeted Al-Sheikh for his 40th birthdayand visited the house of the “sheikh” in Riyadh with other Argentine players) that today fattens the pockets of the Argentine star and positions Saudi Arabia as a candidate for the 2030 World Cupa race in which Mohammad bin Salmán scores personally: sat next to Gianni Infantino, FIFA President in the first match of this World Cup, and the two had a long chat during the G20 summit last week in Bali.
by RN
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