Saudi Arabia is known for its black gold, as the destination of the hadj, its peerless horses, its smooth coffee, and fierce fundamentalism. The Kingdom has long been a conundrum; geo-strategically vital, culturally foreign, financially indispensable. 

Now Saudis are pursuing athletic ambitions, hoping to transform the nation that features the holiest city in Islam into, to boot, a sports Mecca. The push, which has been unfolding for months, has come into particular focus as a frenemy, Qatar, hosts by some measure the largest sporting event in the world, the World Cup. 

Athletics appear to be at the heart of Vision 2030, which the Kingdom describes as  a “unique transformative economic and social reform blueprint that is opening Saudi Arabia up to the world.” Begun in 2016, it is the special project of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the heir apparent to the throne.

The House of Saud’s sporting play is fueled by the crude gushing from beneath its sands. High oil prices have yielded a $27 billion budget surplus, with the International Monetary Fund predicting 7.6 percent growth as its output reaches $1 trillion. Skeptics note that some of these funds are being diverted to clean up the image of a regime that is no stranger to brutality. 

Soccer appears to be the Saudi’s next move. The Kingdom is making a move for the 2030 World Cup alongside Egypt and Greece, with its tourism minister, Ahmed Al Khateeb, promising that his country would have “state of the art stadiums and fanzones” built for the occasion. The crown prince, MBS, was spotted at Doha with FIFA’s president. 

It has not gone unnoticed that the soccer maestro Lionel Messi has signed a contract to pitch tourism to Saudi Arabia. While the Kingdom has not explicitly tied his contract to the bid, it would appear that the sport’s greatest player would be a valuable asset in persuading soccer barons to gift it the tournament. 

A May tweet from Mr. Al Khateeb welcomes Mr. Messi to Saudi Arabia and encourages him to “explore the treasures of the Red Sea, the Jeddah Season and our ancient history.” It promises that “this is not his first visit to the Kingdom, and it will not be the last.” 

The terms of Mr. Messi’s pact have not been disclosed, although the Daily Telegraph reported that another soccer great, Christiano Ronaldo, turned down an offer of five million pounds a year. The Saudis’ sovereign wealth fund purchased the Newcastle soccer club for $409 million in 2021. 

It appears as if Mr. Ronaldo could be on the verge of changing his mind, with reports that Al-Nassr FC, a team in the Saudi Pro League,  is prepared to pay Ronaldo 200 million pounds a year to join their ranks. Jose Felix Diaz of Marca reports that the deal will become official as soon as the World Cup concludes. 

It could be argued, though, that the best publicity of all was achieved not with a checkbook but on the FIFA pitch, when Saudi Arabia’s team notched its first win in the tournament since 1998 when it beat Mr. Messi’s Argentina. In a remarkable sight, Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, was seen draped in a Saudi Arabian flag during the match. 

For a team with the longest odds of any to win the tournament before it began, it was the kind of signature victory money can’t buy. While the green and white clad Saudis were eventually ejected from the tournament after losses to Poland and Mexico, the victory over Argentina will not soon fade.   

Saudi Arabia’s shot on goal in relation to soccer comes on the heels of the country’s founding of LIV Golf, a sequence of eight tournaments intended to compete with the Professional Golf Association Tour, the long established gold standard. To that end, LIV has lured some of golf’s biggest stars, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, and Bryson DeChambeau.

The purse for each of LIV’s tournaments was $25 million, and the prize for its championship, which was held in October at the Trump Doral, was $50 million. The chief executive of LIV is Majed al-Sarour, who has promised to “create my own majors for my players.” All of this is paid for by the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund. 

LIV apparently had its sights on the biggest golf star of them all, Tiger Woods. LIV’s public face, Gregory “The Shark” Norman, told broadcaster Tucker Carlson that the tour offered Mr. Woods between $700 million and $800 million to jump ship and join their upstart effort. He declined, wondering  “what is the incentive to practice” given all the money involved.

The tournament did not return the Sun’s request for comment. In response to a question from the London Daily Telegraph regarding compensation, Mr. Norman replied  “Am I being paid? Yes. Am I being paid a fortune? What’s the definition of a fortune?”