SEPADPod On Saudi Arabia And Football

Richardson Institute

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Eyad Al Refai, Aziz Alghashian, Guy Burton and Francesco Belcastro about Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom’s growing influence in global football. Eyad, Aziz, Guy and Francesco all work at the interplay of football and politics in the Middle East, while Aziz and Eyad have experience of attending games in Saudi Arabia. On this episode, Simon and the group discuss the rising prominence of football in Saudi Arabia, reflecting on why the Kingdom has become involved in football, how it is funded, the global economy of football, its role in Vision 2030, the interplay of football and politics, the Kingdom’s oldest football team, sports washing, sectarianism and nationalism. There’s a lot of coverage of football in the Kingdom, a great deal of which is beset by orientalist, xenophobic and Islamophobic assumptions. This podcast seeks to challenge this, offering a considered discussion of Saudi Arabia’s role in the beautiful game.