October 19 – Saudi Arabia’s vice-minister of sport has added his voice to countering critics who accuse the country of using its sovereign wealth fund to engage in “sportswashing” to deflect from its human rights record.
October 19 – Neymar’s rollercoaster season on and off the pitch has taken another damaging hit after he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus in his left knee while on international duty.
October 16 – Streaming giant DAZN is building a portfolio in Saudi media rights after acquiring the global rights to the Saudi Women’s Premier League to add to the SPL rights.
October 16 – Jordan Henderson has reacted to being booed in England’s international friendly versus Australia at Wembley on Friday evening despite donning the captain’s armband in his side’s 1-0 victory over the Socceroos.
October 11 – Saudi Arabia, looking to be a shoo-in to stage the 2034 World Cup now looks to have a potential rival in the bidding process.
October 9 – Saudi Arabia have wasted no time submitting their formal letter of intent to bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup today. Last week FIFA announced after that only nation from the AFC and OFC could bid for 2034.
The dual bidding for the 2018 and the 2022 FIFA World Cups degenerated into that proverbial needle, which broke an old and unintentionally salivating camel’s back.
By Andrew Warshaw and Paul Nicholson
October 5 – Within minutes of FIFA opening up the 2034 World Cup solely to countries from Asia and Oceania, Saudi Arabia became the first to announce it will bid to host the tournament, confirming a long-established desire to stage the biggest footballing show on earth.
October 4 – Neymar scored his first goal since his high-profile €90 million move to Al-Hilal on Tuesday as the Saudi Arabian club beat Nassaji Mazandaran 3-0 in Tehran in the Asian Champions League.
September 22 – Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman has rejected allegations of ‘sportswashing’ as a method of improving the kingdom’s international reputation and says he has every intention of continuing to invest in top-level sport.
September 21 – Saudi Arabia drew 0-0 with Malaysia to kick off the second edition of the Women’s International Friendly Tournament in the Arab Kingdom.
September 20 – The French FA (FFF) have signed a cooperation agreement with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) that will cover football development.
September 11 – Saudi Pro League’s transfer window closed at the end of last week showing club spending hitting a record $957 million and rocketing the Saudi clubs into being the second highest spending league in the world behind the English Premier League’s $1.39 billion spend in the summer window.
September 5 – Saudi Arabian and Iranian clubs, drawn together in the Champions League, will for the first time play matches on a home-and-away since 2015. Since 2016 clubs from the two nations drawn against each other in AFC competition were mandated to play ties at neutral venues.
August 28 – Just two weeks after quitting the Italian men’s national team, Roberto Mancini has been appointed coach of the Saudi Arabia national team.