Saudi Arabia and Sport - The Explainer

We look to answer the key questions regarding Saudi Arabia’s ever-expanding and evolving sporting revolution. We discuss the origins of the Kingdom’s involvement in global sport and look at its growing influence in football, tennis, boxing and golf, against a backdrop of criticism regarding Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, as well as asking if there’s any ceiling to the country’s sporting ambitions. Eleanor Oldroyd is joined by BBC sports editor Dan Roan and BBC sports news correspondent Laura Scott, who have both witnessed, first hand, the development of sport in Saudi Arabia over the past 12 months. We hear at length from Saudi Arabia's sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal about the reasons behind his country's huge investment in sport, and from the president of the Saudi Tennis Federation, Arij Mutabagani - the first woman to be elected as the president of a Saudi Arabian sports federation - on how bringing the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia will aid the development of women's sport and women's sport in the country. We also hear from BBC boxing reporter Kal Sajad and BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter about Saudi Arabia's ever-increasing influence over boxing and golf.

You can listen to Saudi Arabia and Sport - The Explainer online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Saudi Arabia and Sport - The Explainer is an episode from 5 live Sport Specials by BBC.

This episode is 54:26 long.

This episode was published on Dec 5, 2024.

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