Saudi PIF invests in surging soccer realm with Kings League

Having disrupted the athletic world with billions poured into golf, tennis, mixed martial arts and esports, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is diving deeper into soccer.

SURJ Sports, an investment arm of the sovereign wealth fund, signed an agreement on Tuesday to form a joint venture with the upstart Kings League.

The move brings a wildly popular new brand of football to the kingdom that features seven players on each side of the field. 

An inaugural event is planned for November, which will be streamed on a range of platforms including TikTok and YouTube. The league has close to 30 million social media followers.

Kings League was founded in 2022 by former Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué and has a growing young audience drawn by its fast-paced format.

Most of the league’s revenue comes from sponsorship and merchandising, rather than broadcasting, which fuels traditional football teams that play with 11 to a side. 

“Our priority today is to maximize reach and get in front of as many fans as possible,” Kings League CEO Djamel Agaoua tells Bloomberg.

“In the future, as the product matures, we want to develop our media rights revenue stream, and we might consider more exclusive deals with broadcasters and streaming platforms,” he said.

Gulf trade tops Trump agenda in run-up to visit set for mid-May

Now it’s official. U.S. President Donald Trump will travel to the Gulf starting May 13 for a four-day trip that will take him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.

Besides a heavy geopolitical agenda dealing with the strife-torn Middle East, the regional tour will focus on trade, particularly the 10% tariffs Trump announced for each of the GCC member countries. That’s an increase from previous levels, but nowhere close to the 145% levies imposed on China, which has roiled world markets with the prospect of a trade war.

The U.S. leader is especially game to lock down commitments from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed to invest vast sums in the U.S. – $600 billion over 10 years from Saudi Arabia and $1.4 trillion from the Emiratis. Trump said he hopes to push the Saudi investment to $1 trillion.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced the trip at a White House briefing on Tuesday, saying the President intends to “strengthen ties” with the three Gulf states. “He will have many bilateral meetings and talks, and we look forward to the trip,” she said.

Trump said he discussed trade with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Tuesday, which also covered Iran and other topics, and posted it on his Truth Social platform. He made no mention of a possible side-trip to Israel after the Gulf tour. “We are on the same side on every issue,” Trump said.

The visit to Saudi Arabia was planned as the President’s first foreign trip since his inauguration, which was in 2017 at the start of his first term. That was overridden by the death of Pope Francis, with Trump scheduled to attend the funeral in Rome this coming Saturday.