Uli Hoeneß warns of Saudi Arabia coming to power
Uli Hoeneß is a man of words. The influential honorary president of FC Bayern Munich knows exactly what to say, when to say it and why. In a major RTL/ntv interview with Monica Lierhaus, the 71-year-old now warns against the new player on the world soccer stage.
Uli Hoeneß has issued a massive warning about Saudi Arabia's attack on soccer. "The Saudis really seem determined to dominate world soccer," said the honorary president of Bayern Munich in an interview with Monica Lierhaus on RTL/ntv. As a countermeasure, the 71-year-old suggests a new focus on their own youth development.
Saudi Arabia has not only been a new factor in world soccer since FIFA boss Gianni Infantino arbitrarily awarded the 2034 World Cup to the kingdom last month. They grabbed the headlines as early as the end of the highly controversial Winter World Cup in Qatar 2022 with the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo.
While in January 2023 the belief that this was a one-off marketing campaign involving a washed-up world star still prevailed, Saudi Arabia underpinned its efforts to achieve sustainable sporting development with a massive attack on European soccer in the summer of 2023. Not only the very big and very old stars suddenly moved to the desert, but also younger players who were still capable of development.
Saudi Arabia buys big time
In total, the clubs in the Saudi Pro League invested just under a billion euros in new players. At the same time, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which had already acquired the English club Newcastle United at the end of 2021, took over four clubs in the domestic league. A large part of the transfer money still flowed to England in the summer of 2023, but FC Bayern Munich also found a grateful buyer for transfer flop Sadio Mané in Ronaldo's club Al-Nassr FC. He moved to the desert for around 30 million euros.
"I think we always thought that the opponents were in England, Spain and a little bit in France and Italy," said Hoeneß in an interview with Lierhaus. "But now completely new things are coming to world soccer. Now a country like Saudi Arabia has suddenly appeared with an infinitely large pot of money." One that exceeds even the expectations of the financially very healthy FC Bayern.
Who is really footing the bill for the attack
"They are trying to buy world-class players and also build a proper structure for soccer," said Hoeneß. This distinguishes Saudi Arabia from China, whose soccer project briefly made headlines in the mid-2010s and then quickly disappeared into oblivion. "The Saudis seem to be really determined to perhaps dominate world soccer," commented Hoeneß: "And of course there is an additional component that didn't exist in China: there is obviously money in abundance. And we have to pay for that through our oil bill."
To fend off the attack, soccer in Germany in particular must rely on old values, explained Hoeneß - and on new trust in young people. "They can only play with eleven players and there is enough talent in the world," said the honorary Bayern president. "We have to try to develop many players ourselves through very good youth development work. So we have to counter this with our quality of life and our love of our homeland."
Saudi Arabia's investments in soccer and the quest for power in world soccer mentioned by Hoeneß have led to sharp criticism. The project, identified in Europe as "sportswashing", is also intended to secure the power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman within the kingdom. Saudi Arabia is criticized above all for numerous proven human rights violations. However, this does not prevent the European economy from doing business with the kingdom.
- FC Bayern Munich's honorary president, Uli Hoeneß, has expressed concern about Saudi Arabia's significant investment in Soccer Bundesliga clubs, stating, "Now a country like Saudi Arabia has suddenly appeared with an infinitely large pot of money."
- Despite the criticism towards Saudi Arabia's approach as "sportswashing" and human rights concerns, major European clubs, including FC Bayern Munich, have accepted transfer funds from Saudi-owned clubs, such as Al-Nassr FC, where Sadio Mané was recently transferred.
Source: www.ntv.de
