The Saudi prince and his financial calculations fuelling the 2034 Football World Cup dreams
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Mohammed Bin Salman — MBS for his devout—once splurged half a billion dollars on a yacht party for his friends. The Saudi Arabia crown prince, the man behind bringing the 2034 FIFA World Cup, gifted Rolls Royce to his country’s team that defeated Argentina in the Qatar World Cup. He reportedly purchased, with a proxy, a French château worth $300 million in Versailles; coughed up $450.3 million to fetch Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi. But he is austere and stern with his words. He speaks straight and blunt, with no regal flourishes, no hollow diplomatic fervour.
Rather, he speaks like a businessman fuelled by vaulting ambition, as he did when the Fox News’ anchor sought his opinion on “sport washing” allegations. “If sport washing is going to increase my GDP by way of 1%, then...