How Saudi Arabia weaponised Cristiano Ronaldo and co to legitimise 2034 World Cup bid

In the white marble offices of Riyadh’s opulent royal palaces, the only man with a worry in the world in recent weeks had been Sir Keir Starmer. The prime minister flew in to meet the crown prince on Monday, eagerly rattling his tin for investment and describing his “No 1 mission” to grow the UK’s economy. No need for such hustling on the other side of the table for Mohammed bin Salman, the controversial de facto leader of Saudi Arabia for whom life has never been so sweet.

A seismic week awaited Saudi Arabia in which there was little else to do but count down the hours to being crowned World Cup hosts. No rival bid, no worries and no need for any last-minute canvassing for the Saudi 2034 team building, near the crown prince’s billion pound base. Hammad Albalawi, head of the Saudi operation, was so clear of duties that he could spend much of the last fortnight giving visiting dignitaries personal tours of a purpose-built pavilion housing renderings of the space-age new stadiums.

Fireworks went off in Riyadh as soon as Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, secured his official approval via a chorus of claps from more than 200 nations. But as parties on the streets got into full swing, videos of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema got the kingdom buzzing.

“It’s going to be the best World Cup ever,” beamed Ronaldo to his 114 million followers. It was quite the statement from a man who will also probably front the 2030 version part-hosted by his Portuguese homeland. “It’s amazing. The infrastructure, the stadiums, the conditions for the fans, and everything. The Saudis are very good people... I’m happy to be part of this success for the country, and I will be here for sure to see the World Cup.”

Benzema had shared similar sentiments via official channels and later word spread that Neymar would also be joining the official celebrations in person. For those behind the scenes, Wednesday was the culmination of a carefully executed project to weaponise the star talents of the Saudi Pro League. The optics – particularly in the siloed world of social media algorithms – could barely have been better for the local population as stellar names led the victory lap.

A drip feed of star-studded videos singing the merits of Saudi Arabia had been posted in recent weeks, successfully drowning out criticism coming their way from the West.

Ronaldo, Riyad Mahrez and Yaya Toure all put on Saudi 2034 hoodies and were pictured enjoying kickabouts with local youngsters. “Saudi 2034 is inspiring so many young footballers with the promise of #GrowingTogether and it was a pleasure to meet some of those kids who are dreaming of welcoming the world to Saudi Arabia in 2034,” Ronaldo then posted to his 114 million followers on X.

In other videos, Benzema directly challenges critics to visit Saudi Arabia and see the country for themselves. Neymar, a face of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup, even risks the wrath of his motherland by speculating the country of his new paymasters could host the best tournament ever.

“None of them received payment for the videos,” insisted one leading figure in Saudi football when contacted by Telegraph Sport. No extra cheques but undoubtedly a payback of sorts for the obscene wages they have been enjoying since Ronaldo’s arrival less than two years ago.

None of those to spearhead the Saudi bid will feel the heat faced by David Beckham over his £100 million-plus deal to promote the virtues of Gulf rival Qatar. Beckham will feel as aggrieved as anyone to see how easily it has all come together for Saudi Arabia. Recent days have been some contrast with December 2010, too, when Beckham was part of the great and good of British sport on the last-minute campaign trail to spearhead England’s ill-fated World Cup 2018 bid.

“He has stardust,” enthused campaign chief Lord Coe as Beckham was dispatched with Prince William and David Cameron to a five-star Zurich hotel as part of a last-ditch lobbying mission. “He will be talking about the importance of football in his life and in his family, talking for millions and millions of kids. He is a believable character.”

England, of course, were undone the next day by a Fifa vote that still casts a cloud. The Saudi experience – with doors wide open at Fifa after Aramco sponsorship deals and much talk of Club World Cup funding – had been a completely different beast.

Young Saudis taking offence at Western ‘smear campaigns’

On Wednesday, Amnesty International and 20 other human-rights organisations immediately published a joint statement condemning a “moment of great danger”. “At every stage of this bidding process, Fifa has shown its commitment to human rights to be a sham,” Amnesty added. Ongoing executions and the alleged state murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist, are inescapable facts.

However, in an economically modernising kingdom, most young Saudis are persuaded by the state claiming they should be taking offence at Western smear campaigns. Gulf expert Simon Chadwick, a professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School, had travelled to Saudi Arabia in the past month to taste the mood on the ground. Reflecting on an emboldened sense that the nation has a greater voice than ever internationally, he explained why a feel-good factor around this World Cup is so important, especially during instability in the Middle East.

“You keep coming back to the point of the population of the country being 70 per cent under 35 years old – the average age of an Arab Spring protest[er] 10 years ago was 26 years old,” Chadwick explains. Despite the criticism from the West, the country knows it is in its own interests to at least be seen to “be changing, transforming” by its own people.

That internal agenda and an apparent PR strategy to soften the kingdom’s image came to fore as the Saudi pitch to delegates in Zurich on Wednesday was fronted by two 13-year-old children speaking from Riyadh. The pair referenced the kingdom’s growing young population in their address before a Saudi promotional video, and then declared that “we are opening up to the world... it will be a tournament that promises to be the best in Fifa’s history”.

“I think what we’re seeing inside the country at the moment is a reconfiguration of what it means to be Saudi Arabian, and what it means to live inside Saudi Arabia,” added Chadwick. “The people I have observed in downtown Riyadh are incredibly excited. From a situation in 2018 when the religious police were still on the streets, women couldn’t drive, women couldn’t go to sports competitions, suddenly the country is transformed completely.”

Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, echoes such sentiment. “It’s an information campaign and the Gulf is working together now,” he explained. “The public attention [in Saudi Arabia] now will be less than what it was when Qatar was hosting. I think that certainly will help the Saudis. We’re in an information environment in the Gulf, with all the Gulf countries kind of together. They have reunited.”

As the party got going on Wednesday, Benzema became the first major name to inevitably lead tributes on official channels. “Very happy today, like the rest of the Saudis... and the World Cup atmosphere will be fantastic in the kingdom,” he says. With Ronaldo and co weaponised and an entire Gulf behind them, it is little wonder life has been so easy in the Saudi bid camp.