00:00How do you see football helping to deliver some of the goals of Vision 2030?
00:04Well, I think there's a couple of different ways in which they can contribute.
00:07One is, of course, having major events in Saudi Arabia.
00:11There's the AFC Asian Champions League every year now in Saudi, the final eight, quarterfinal, semifinal and final.
00:21The Asian Cup in 2027, obviously the World Cup in 2034.
00:25So these will bring huge numbers of visitors to the kingdom to try to strengthen the tourist and sport sectors, which are key areas of Vision 2030.
00:37I think we have to also look at the sports policy in collaboration with tourism, using sports to generate awareness that something's changing in Saudi Arabia,
00:48that the Saudi Arabia people thought they knew 20 years ago is no longer the Saudi Arabia we see today,
00:56that many more people have probably heard of Vision 2030 as a result of football and investments in golf and boxing and other sports.
01:04That would have been the case had there not been such investment and really creating a sense of excitement, creating a sense of buzz that Saudi Arabia is the place to be.
01:14And, of course, when you have stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi posting on social media to their half billion followers about the times they're having in Saudi Arabia,
01:26that gives you a kind of an unparalleled global reach.
01:29So I think it all helps to generate awareness that things are changing and creating a buzz that will be necessary if the Giga projects are to come to fruition
01:40and to be populated by residents, by visitors, to meet all the ambitious targets that Saudis have set for tourist numbers and obviously foreign direct investment as well.
