August 18 – The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) has strengthened ties with Oceania, signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The confederation said that the MoU does not involve a cash investment by Saudi Arabia in the region.
The five-year MoU between the OFC and SAFF will focus on women’s football, beach soccer and futsal.
“The recent development of women’s football in Saudi Arabia with a women’s football league and a women’s national team is commendable and OFC will be happy to share its expertise and help SAFF in this area,” said OFC general secretary Franck Castillo.
The latest MoU signed by SAFF continues Saudi Arabia’s outward looking strategy of building global influence and allies in the world game.
The Saudis have spent huge sums in upgrading their domestic league with the Public Investment Fund taking over four major clubs. They have splashed out on the transfer market, Neymar becoming the latest €90 million signing.
Castillo, however, rejected speculation that the OFC will benefit financially from the MoU. He told Insideworldfootball that there is “no funding” involved whatsoever and that Saudi Arabia has not asked for anything in return. Instead, he emphasised that the parties see the development of women’s football in Saudi Arabia and Oceania as positive both for the game and society.
The statement from the OFC elaborated that the MoU will allow for Women’s Football, Futsal and Beach Soccer teams from Saudi Arabia to participate as guest teams in relevant OFC competitions and vice versa, but Castillo said that not all costs will be covered by the Saudis if one of the OFC member associations wants to travel to Riyadh for a training camp or exposure matches.
It’s the second MoU that SAFF has signed with a confederation. In May, the Saudis teamed up with the Confederation of African Football (CAF). They have also expanded their influence with at least 15 MoUs with individual federations, from Ecuador to Bangladesh. In every MoU, the Saudis were the senior partner because of their financial resources and ambitions in the world game.
Saudi Arabian ambition is to host a World Cup either in 2030 or more likely in 2034. Its outreach is part of a sports diplomacy mission to gain support for that dream. The OFC region represents 11 votes of FIFA’s 211 national association membership. The MoU announcement also comes on the back of FIFA president Gianni Infantino touring the Pacific.
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