Saudi Arabia ‘offered to pay for new stadiums’ in Greece and Egypt if they agreed to World Cup bid

Saudi Arabia has reportedly offered to pay for new stadiums in Greece and Egypt if those two countries agreed to join the Gulf state in a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

The three nations are working together on a bid for the tournament and face competition from Europe, in a joint bid from Spain, Portugal and Ukraine, and from South America, with a bid from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile.

The FIFA congress will vote on a decision on the tournament in 2024, with the official bidding process beginning later this year.

And according POLITICALSaudi Arabia offered to effectively pay the hosting costs of Greece and Egypt if they joined its offer, and in exchange, the Gulf state could host three-quarters of all games in the tournament.

The report claims this would cost billions of pounds in construction costs, but the proposal was discussed in a private conversation in the summer of 2022 between Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. .

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has offered to pay for new stadiums in Greece and Egypt if they agree to join them in a joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

The Saudi bid is seen as having a better chance of success with the other two nations on board.

Saudi Arabia has effectively informed the other two nations that it will “fully bear the costs” of hosting the tournament if they host 75 percent of the games.

His motivations behind the offer, which it is unclear if was accepted by Greece and Egypt, are reportedly due to the fact that he would see the tournament played on three continents.

There is a belief that a bid for another tournament in the Middle East, just eight years after Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup, would struggle to succeed.

The presence of countries from three continents would also likely attract votes from the FIFA congress, which is made up of more than 200 members from around the world.

As for Africa, the joint offer would expect to receive support due to the presence of Egypt, along with Saudi investment in the region.

Something similar would be expected in Asia and there is hope that if Greece can get the support of the European nations then it would have a strong chance of winning the vote.

However, this offer is likely to lead to further accusations that Saudi Arabia is using its wealth and power to ‘buy the World Cup’ and continue its sporting laundering, while also creating a multi-continental coalition of countries to manipulate the voting system.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of using sports laundering to distract people from the country’s poor human rights record after hosting several high-profile sporting events, including heavyweight boxing matches, a Formula One Grand Prix, while funding the controversial LIV Golf Breakaway League.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (above) met with Bin Salman to discuss the issue.

Not a single Middle Eastern bid is expected to succeed eight years after Qatar hosted the World Cup.

Newcastle United is also owned by a Saudi-backed group. The Gulf state has come under fire for its crackdown on free speech, as well as its use of the death penalty and treatment of migrant workers.

But, along with the element of sporting prestige, the report states that if they win the rights to host the tournament, it is part of Saudi Arabia’s broader intentions to position itself as an Afro-Eurasian hub, with the country poised to have strong power and influence spanning three continents

The three nations have also developed closer ties in recent years with Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis, who has visited Riyadh on several occasions and provided military supplies and personnel to Saudi Arabia.

Athens was also the first European capital bin Salman had visited since US intelligence concluded in a declassified report that it approved the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has always tended to enjoy close diplomatic ties with Egypt and last June they signed several deals and investment agreements worth billions of euros.