FIFA will rely on Saudi money to develop football globally
A $1bn deal between FIFA and Saudi Arabia to support football in developing nations, on the background of the meeting between Bin Salman and Trump.
On Monday 24 November, FIFA announced a new collaboration with Saudi Arabia government, that will provide $1 billion fund for the development of football around the world. FIFA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) to allocate concessional loans for the construction and rehabilitation of sports stadiums and other infrastructures in developing countries. Priority will be given to FIFA members, the statement said.
This is just the latest agreement in chronological order between the two institutions. On December 2024, FIFA assigned the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, but already in April that year a partnership with Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, was revealed. The deal with Aramco will last for at least four years for a value of $100 million a year. On February 2025, the PIF company SURJ Sports Investment acquired a minority stake in DAZN for $1 billion, and the platform used that money to buy FIFA Club World Cup streaming rights, financially saving the tournament.
Without Saudi Arabia's Money, the Club World Cup Would Have Been a Failure
For the past week, the new Club World Cup has been underway in the United States. For the first time, it features a 32-team format and is intended to be held every four years. It’s a tourna…
Politics around last FIFA-Saudi deal
The Monday agreement has a highly political framework, considering that FIFA president Gianni Infantino secured the deal during a meeting at the White House between US President Donald Trump and Saudi Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman. It highlights a “triangle of power” between the US administration, the Saudi monarchy and the most important sports organization in the world: like SURJ money financed the FIFA Club World Cup in the US in Summer 2025, Aramco money will do the same with FIFA World Cup in the US in Summer 2026.
FIFA, technically a not-for-profit organization, use all its revenue “to fuel the growth of football – men, women, youth - globally,” director of media Bryan Swanson said recently to The Guardian. But this is not to be considered as charity: spreading money between its members, and especially among less wealthy ones, means expanding and consolidating a clientelistic network that ensures Infantino’s stay in power.
From its point of view, Saudi Arabia can expand its network of power and influence in the world by investing in developing countries through FIFA. The Saudi Fund for Development, created in 1974, manages 741 projects in 93 countries worldwide, for approximately $20 billion allocated. It has a partnership with the United Nations and the World Health Organization, and in 2023 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Africa Finance Corporation. One of its most important deals consists in funding hydropower projects in Pakistan, a country that is of great interest to Saudi Arabia for its agricultural and mineral resources.
The FIFA-SFD deal confirms Saudi Arabia’s strategy of signing Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with football institutions as a basis for increasing its network of influence. According to a research published by Play the Game, in 2024 the Gulf country managed 48 MOU with football clubs, federations and confederations.
How Saudi money backs football in Oceania (and not only)
In January 2026, a new era for football in Oceania will begin. It will the start of the first season of the OFC Pro League, a new 8-teams professional championship that will last until May and will have the task of relaunching the development of this sport on the contine…