Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund – known as its Public Investment Fund (PIF) – owns the LIV golf series and has partnerships with tennis governing bodies the ATP and the WTA.

PIF has controlling stakes in Newcastle United, alongside four Saudi Pro League clubs Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli, who have spent more than £1bn trying to attract the world’s best players to the league over the past two seasons.

Saudi Arabia is not just hosting events on home soil.

This year, it announced an intention to begin a new global boxing league with UFC president Dana White and TKO Group, which owns the UFC and WWE.

It has previously funded boxing events in the US and the UK including Daniel Dubois’ victory over Anthony Joshua at Wembley.

As of December 2024, Saudi Arabia had 900 sponsorship deals across sports worldwide, according to a report by Play the Game, a publicly funded sports ethics institute in Denmark.

Aramco – a Saudi energy and chemicals company – has long-term deals with Formula 1 and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Visit Saudi sponsors La Liga, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Sela, a Saudi Arabian entertainment and hospitality company owned by Newcastle’s owners, is the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor.