Saudi Arabia lining up football club sales ‘within months’

• Transactions completed on 11 clubs
• Interest expressed by 40 investors
• 2034 World Cup is the ‘catalyst’

Saudi Arabia will offer more football clubs to investors “within months” as it seeks to deepen private-sector participation in a sport that has become central to its economic diversification plans, a senior government official has said.

The kingdom is betting that the road to the 2034 Fifa World Cup, which it is hosting, will prove as valuable as the tournament itself, driving investment, infrastructure development and higher football club valuations.

The push comes as officials seek to reassure investors that long-term growth plans remain on track despite the Iran war that has weighed on sentiment.

The government has completed transactions involving 11 clubs, and has two more underway, Ibrahim AlMoaiqel, assistant deputy minister for investment and privatisation at the Ministry of Sport, told the Middle East Sports Investment Forum in London last week.

Interest continues to build, he said, as more than 40 local and international investors have formally expressed interest in acquiring stakes in Saudi football clubs.

“We intend to bring more clubs to the market over the next few months,” AlMoaiqel said.

“The most attractive opportunities often emerge before the catalyst arrives. Our catalyst is the World Cup.”

AlMoaiqel compared the current moment to the years before major US investment in “infrastructure, commercial growth, and sporting performance” drove franchise values higher in Major League Soccer ahead of the 2026 World Cup in North America.

“It’s not about the actual tournament, it’s about what happens from today until that tournament,” he said.

“This is the window to get involved. Not after 2034, not right before. This is the time while the market is still taking shape, while attractive assets still remain available.”

Sports analytics platform Opta, which provides a power ranking of pro leagues calculated by head-to-head matches and country and extant league hierarchies, rates the Saudi Pro League 27th internationally, with the MLS standing at 15th.

The privatisation drive is a central part of Saudi Arabia’s effort to build a commercial sports industry under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 economic transformation plan.

The government has spent billions of dollars building a global sports industry, signing international football stars, hosting major events and investing heavily in stadiums and related infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia has about 170 football clubs, all historically funded and controlled by the state. In 2023 it began restructuring the sector, converting its four biggest clubs – Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli – into companies majority-owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund. Separately, smaller clubs opened to outside corporate and private investors.

More recently, PIF has begun selling down its stakes in the flagship four. In April, it signed an agreement to sell 70 percent of Al-Hilal to Kingdom Holding Company, chaired by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, valuing the club at SAR1.4 billion ($373 million) – the first to be offered to a corporate buyer, pending regulatory approval.

Sports participation rising

The pitch came against a backdrop of investor wariness as the Iran war has disrupted air travel, tourism flows and business activity across the region.

AlMoaiqel said the kingdom “remains very stable and confident” in its direction.

“Recent headlines have raised some questions about parts of the region, but the reality is headlines are very different from fundamentals,”  AlMoaiqel said.

He said Saudi Pro League attendance had doubled in recent years, while league and club revenues had tripled. Matches are broadcast in more than 180 countries.

Sports participation has risen from 13 percent of the population less than a decade ago to more than 60 percent, while the number of licensed sports businesses has grown from about 800 to nearly 4,300, according to AlMoaiqel.

The 2026 Fifa World Cup begins on June 11 in the United States, with Saudi Arabia among the 48 nations competing in the expanded tournament. The kingdom has been drawn in Group H alongside Spain, Uruguay and Cape Verde.

• World Cup football betting arrives in UAE
• Mohamed Salah would mark new phase for Saudi Pro League
• PIF sells Al Hilal majority stake to Kingdom Holding

The government has set a commercial revenue target for the league of SAR1.8 billion a year by 2030, particularly through greater ticket sales and expanding broadcasting rights.

AlMoaiqel said the government would be selective about club sales.

“Under Vision 2030, the sports sector in Saudi Arabia has become among the biggest growth stories in the world,” he said.

“Interest continues to grow more and more as we roll out these clubs. But our approach remains deliberate. We’re not in a rush. We’re focused on having the right partners. The reality is actually these clubs are quite scarce. As Saudi football continues to mature, the opportunities today won’t be available tomorrow.”