Saudi Arabia/MBS wants the world cup

[jesmu84]

https://twitter.com/AliWalker24/status/1623278636915646465?t=ljuBCTCtEz_-fguMKCHI7Q&s=19

[4everwarriors]

Kolek 'em, hey?

[Hards Alumni]

Kolek 'em, hey?

Yup.  Worst US ally.

[21Jumpstreet]

Nothing is free, this is a recipe for the Greeks being "conquered" yet again

[Its DJOver]

Don't see it happening.  I would put the CONMEBOL bid as the clear cut leader at this point, with the Iberian bid a distant second, and no one else is really a player at all at this point.

[JWags85]

Nothing is free, this is a recipe for the Greeks being "conquered" yet again

I actually don't agree with this.

First off, its not like Greek put in a sole bid, its Greek and Egypt together.  And its not Saudi doing Greece some favor, its just their way of buying their way into this.  Its like if people were going on vacation and the weird rich wants to go along but he's not invited.  So he's like "come on, let me, I'll pay for the hotels and plane tickets" so the group is like fine.  They aren't indebted to the kid going forward, they were going on vacation anyways, they weren't begging for his money or his favor.

And like one of the tweets said, this is Saudi trying to position themselves as a Eurasian link/hub for the future, I don't see this as some long term leverage play against Greece at all.

[21Jumpstreet]

I actually don't agree with this.

First off, its not like Greek put in a sole bid, its Greek and Egypt together.  And its not Saudi doing Greece some favor, its just their way of buying their way into this.  Its like if people were going on vacation and the weird rich wants to go along but he's not invited.  So he's like "come on, let me, I'll pay for the hotels and plane tickets" so the group is like fine.  They aren't indebted to the kid going forward, they were going on vacation anyways, they weren't begging for his money or his favor.

And like one of the tweets said, this is Saudi trying to position themselves as a Eurasian link/hub for the future, I don't see this as some long term leverage play against Greece at all.

You might be right. I'm not saying it's a long term play "against" Greece, but I do suspect that Saudi Arabia will have expectations tied to any contributions they make. The article clearly states some motives, and it clearly does not include all of them. Saudi Arabia is not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts and not just so they can tag along on vacation. They will expect something in return, and they absolutely should. I hope Greece decides against it.

[The Sultan]

https://twitter.com/aliwalker24/status/1623278652795371521?s=46&t=rpr4dPNGi6Yh_74Z2FEN7g

This is the tweet I find funny. In no way is KSA going to be the center of a new world order. They have a natural resource that provides them wealth. That's it.

[WarriorFan]

The Saudis are definitely looking at the success of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha as regional hubs and realize that while it was a lot of their money behind this success, the success did not yet translate back to Saudi Arabia.  They have now made it much easier to travel there for Tourism and are busy developing new (for them) industries such as manufacturing and mining which, along with Tourism, will help them sustain and increase their GDP even if the oil demand wanes.  Look for them to buy a lot of things that will polish the image of the country as "open for business".  So far (on and offshore) they have Carnival, LIV, Newcastle United, Ronaldo, SNAM, Hyundai (minor stake and local manufacturing), Barrick (minor stake while actively mining large gold deposits in Saudi), NEOM, and the PIF worth over $620bn investing almost everywhere. 
Buying a few World Cup matches?  a mere pittance. 

I'm not saying I'm pro or con... just saying that's where there's a lot of money looking for returns, and they have recognized that fixing their image will create greater returns.