New Delhi: Saudi Arabia’s encroachment into the world of football continues with another huge deal. After taking over Premier League club Newcastle United and luring several world stars over to the Middle-East, the Saudi Arabian government has now tightened its claws in the Spanish market. The Saudi Arabian government reached an agreement with the Diego Simeone-managed club over a deal for bagging the naming rights of the club’s stadium for the next nine years.
Los Rojablancos were already being sponsored by the state-owned Riyadh Air since last season which made the deal easier. The club’s stadium will now be renamed from the Metropolitano to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano till 2033. This marks third time that Atletico’s stadium has been renamed since the stadium was first opened. The Metropolitano was built to replace the club’s old stadium, Vicente Calderon.
Initially known as the Wanda Metropolitano due to a deal with the Wanda Group, a Chinese real-estate group, from 2017 to 2022. It then became known as the Cívitas Metropolitano following a deal with the Spanish real-estate group, Cívitas. The new deal with Riyadh Air now sees the Spanish group enter a new sponsorship agreement with the club, ensuring that their relationship continues for the next five years.
Welcome to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano!
Agreement with our main sponsor for the naming of our stadium until 2033 🏟️
➡ https://t.co/s2xlobzmSH pic.twitter.com/gmEOGmgGyV
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) October 9, 2024
While the financial details of the deal weren’t revealed, Atletico Madrid’s club statement did say that this deal makes the Saudi Arabian company, their most important sponsor in history. Riyadh Air’s shirt sponsorship deal with the club was already valued at a reported €40 million so it’s safe to say that the naming rights of the stadium would be significantly higher. The new name change will take a few weeks according to the club statement.
Riyadh Air is an airline firm announced by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in March 2023 but hasn’t yet begun it’s commercial operations. Despite being planned to take it’s first flight in 2025, the airline isn’t backing down in its sponsorship deals. In addition to being associated with Atletico Madrid, the airline has also agreed on a deal to become the official airline partner of the CONCACAF.
Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’
🗣️ Saudi Arabia crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has said he does not care about accusations of ‘sportswashing’. pic.twitter.com/gYzgMSOm9Q
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 21, 2023
Saudi Arabia has long been an infamous country for various political and humanitarian reasons. After years of turning a blind eye towards the criticism the country would receive, the country began to make an effort to rectify it’s reputation and that led to the birth of ‘Vision 2030’ in 2016. The program was launched by the Saudi Crown Prince and it included sports at its forefront, hence the country’s encroachment into football. And it reaches beyond a few sponsorship deals.
The country is all-set to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. Even though no other candidate has expressed a desire in hosting the World Cup that year, the final host will be decided via a vote on the December 11th. However, like every other news with the country, this also comes with it’s own set of problems and restrictions. Saudi Arabia has been accused of abusing migrant workers. A complaint against the country was filed in July, to urge the International Labour Organization to investigate several other human right abuses, which could’ve possibly affected 21,000 workers.
Apart from this deal with Atletico Madrid, the country’s government has also finalized a deal with Dan Friedkin owned AS Roma, who have been diplaying the logo of Saudi state-owned entertainment series Riyadh Season since August last year. Both Friedkin and Atletico CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marin are board members of the European Club Association, and that could be a massive stakeholder in the 2034 World Cup venue debate.
State-owned Riyadh Air have already been the club’s front of shirt sponsor since last season and have now bagged another huge deal with the Spanish side. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
