Everything is Fine!
This week: Saudi owns everything; Conor McGregor is still a twat; Senegal women's basketball denied US visas; Israeli athletes stranded; Trump hijacks Juventus meeting; chaos at Libyan derby.
Welcome to Everything is Fine!—a bi-weekly round-up post that highlights some of the more absurd sport-politics stories that you may have missed amid the never-ending news cycle. This post is available to free subscribers and is presented by Sports Politika, a media venture founded by investigative journalist and researcher Karim Zidan that strives to help you understand how sports and politics shape the world around us.
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If you caught Canada’s 6-0 thrashing of Honduras in the CONCACAF Gold Cup opening round, you may have also noticed Saudi Arabia’s latest hobby: collecting sponsorships in places that have little to do with Saudi Arabia.
As I sat amid a sea of scarlet shirts, each bearing Canada’s distinctive maple leaf, I counted four Saudi sponsorships in total: one for the kingdom’s infamous sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment fund (PIF); one for Riyadh Air — CONCACAF’s “official airline partner,” despite not yet being operational; Aramco, the Saudi oil giant serving as the tournament’s “official energy partner”; and Visit Saudi, the tourism platform run by the Saudi Tourism Authority.
These sponsorships were impossible to miss. They rotated along the pitch-side hoardings and on signage around the stadium. During half-time, they were individually featured on the giant screen resting high above the pitch. Unable to ignore the strange scene, my friend turned to me and asked: “What the hell happened to football?”
The answer lies in some of the recent developments in the sport, especially in North America. Last year, CONCACAF announced a partnership with PIF—the state-owned sovereign wealth fund chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The injection of funds from the PIF was expected to boost soccer development in the region, with more tournaments for men, women, and youth participants. The deal made sense for CONCACAF, which had already designated Aramco as the “official energy partner” for all of CONCACAF’s national team and club competitions and Riyadh Air as its “official airline partner” in a multi-year deal.
Saudi Arabia is also the official “invited guest” of the 2025 Gold Cup, continuing a tradition that started early in the tournament’s founding. The kingdom even faced off against the US men’s national team on Thursday night, losing 1-0 to a second-string American team.
As I mentioned in my piece for The Guardian last month, Saudi Arabia has “reshaped global sports through aggressive investments and strategic acquisitions aimed at bolstering the kingdom’s global influence and soft power. From acquiring top-tier soccer clubs like Newcastle United to ambitious plans in boxing, golf, and esports, the PIF has enabled the Saudi regime to exploit sports as a diplomatic and economic tool, while raising concerns about conflicts of interest, governance, and the growing authoritarian grip on world sports.”
If you’re interested in learning more about Saudi’s investments in North American football, and why it matters to fans of the sport, you can read the entire Guardian op-ed here.
Here’s What Else Happened This Week:
Don’t Mess With Libyan Fans on Derby Day
A highly-anticipated derby in Libya’s football league between Al-Ahly Tripoli and Al-Ittihad was suspended in the first half when Al-Ahli substitutes and fans stormed the pitch in protest of Al-Ittihad players’ celebration of their opening goal.
The game was actually being held behind closed doors but groups of supporters still managed to breach security and occupy sections of the stadium. Amid the chaos that ensued, Al-Ittihad’s bus was set on fire.
Trump Hijacks Juventus Meeting
Ahead of Juventus’s fixture against UAE’s Al-Ain at the Club World Cup, executives and star players from the Italian team visited the Oval Office and stood behind US President Donald Trump during his media briefing with the White House press pool.
During the briefing, which included FIFA President Gianni Infantoni and USMNT players Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah, Trump pivoted from football to discuss a possible attack on Iran.
“I hate to see so much destruction and death,” Trump said, while the players stood around awkwardly.
As Trump continued to field questions about Israel’s ongoing war with Iran, the potential of regime change in the Islamic country, and the possibility of the U.S. joining the war, it remained unclear why the players were even there. Neither the White House nor FIFA have been able to explain how or why this event came about.
What was clear, however, was just how uncomfortable the players were.
“It was all a surprise to me, honestly — they told us that we have to go and I had no choice but to go,” Weah said after Juventus’ 5-0 win on Wednesday. “I was caught by surprise, honestly. It was a bit weird. When he started talking about the politics with Iran and everything, it’s kind of like, I just want to play football man.”
Senegal Women's Basketball Team Denied Visas
A planned training camp in the United States has been called off after several team members from Senegal’s national women’s basketball team were denied visas to be able to enter the country.
Senegal's Prime Minister announced the cancellation, citing the documentation refusals as the reason. Meanwhile, the U.S. embassy in Senegal has not issued an official explanation for the visa denials.
The visa denials come after speculation that the U.S. is preparing to introduce additional travel restrictions affecting 25 African countries, including Senegal. Then U.S. had already introduced restrictions and travel bans targeting 12 nations, including seven from Africa.
Israeli Athletes Stranded after Their Government Launches War on Iran
As Israel’s war with Iran enters its second week, several Israeli athletes and teams are currently stranded after their country declared a state of emergency and closed its airspace for commercial travel until June 30.
Among the stranded athletes are a delegation of judokas competing at the Judo World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. To address the situation, several European countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and Portugal, have stepped in to offer temporary support. These nations have agreed to accommodate the stranded delegation, allowing them to maintain training and daily routines.
Conor McGregor is Still a Twat
In arguably the most predictable news this week: former UFC star Conor McGregor is once again making headlines for punching people at a nightclub in Ibiza. The Sun shared footage of McGregor landing two punches to a person who was later identified as an employee at a nearby club. To add to the bizarre incident, the man who was punched by McGregor was thrown out of the club, while the former fighter was allowed to continue partying.
Though McGregor hasn’t fought professionally in four years, it’s good to know he is able to relive his glory days by sucker punching partygoers at a nightclub in Ibiza. Cocaine truly is a helluva drug.
Your Favourite Sports Bookie Just Got Into Politics
DraftKings is jumping into electoral politics with a new political action committee (PAC). This may not seem like significant news but it when you consider how politically active the company has been in recent years. It spent $420,000 on federal lobbying last year and gave $502,000 in donations to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee. Why? Because DraftKings came under scrutiny for its alleged attempt to “obstruct or impair competition” in the sports betting industry, which is a violation of federal antitrust laws.
While a spokesperson told The hill that they hope to use the PAC to improve the online gambling experience for consumers, it is likely that the committee will be used to further the sports betting giant’s interests.
What I’m Reading
The Survival of Syria’s Damask Rose [NewLines Magazine]
“The blossom looks like pink lipstick on a bare face. That’s how the color of the damask rose stands out when it blooms in the middle of the desert. In Qaldoun al-Marah, often simply called al-Marah, a village of 5,000 people 43 miles northeast of Damascus, one of the world’s oldest rose varieties is harvested between mid-May and early June. The Bitar family, one of the largest pickers of the damask rose in Syria, calls it the “queen of roses.” Also known as the Damascus or Damascene rose, its scent — intense, almost heady — suspends time. Here, where the soil is hard and the sky rarely clouds over, is where it grows best, they say.”
A Palestinian Doctor in Israel Treats People on Both Sides [The New Yorker]
Before leaving the Dead Sea area, Qasem Hassan texted a photograph to a group of colleagues at a medical clinic where she worked, in Kiryat Bialik, a town on the outskirts of Haifa. It showed her standing in a white coat next to her fellow-volunteers. She added a note: “In the P.H.R.I. clinic we set up at the David hotel for evacuees from Kibbutz Be’eri.”
“Very nice!” a Jewish nurse at the clinic texted back. “Human rights for Israelis only!”
“For all people,” Qasem Hassan replied.
“Certainly not!” the nurse responded. “Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and anyone who collaborates with them don’t have rights, because they are not human beings.”
“For all innocent people,” Qasem Hassan texted.
Home is where your attempts to escape cease – and at a bar in New York, I stopped running [The Guardian]
I was alone that New Year’s Eve but not a stranger. Unlike in London, where I spent my childhood, we talk to strangers on the subway and in queues in New York City. And even on street corners. Soon after I returned to my now home town from my previous home town, a man on a street where I was waiting for a friend pointed to my casts and asked what happened. I told him and he turned around, without saying a word, and lifted his T-shirt to show me a tattoo that covered his entire back with the words “Fuck the Police”.
A year later I had the name of the street where riot police attacked me, and which has become an icon of the 25 January 2011 revolution, tattooed on to my left forearm, right next to the scar from surgery to straighten the bone the riot police had broken.
ICYMI
Less than two months following his release from Qatari prison, I spent some time with Abdullah Ibhais, the Jordanian whistleblower jailed for refusing to spin migrant abuses ahead of 2022 World Cup. You can listen to the entire chat here.
A brief interlude from sports and politics to introduce you to another side of me: the grandson of a pioneering Egyptian artist, and the custodian of her estate.
Sports Politika has identified DOGE member Donald P as Donald Park, a private equity investor and BJJ blackbelt under Royler Gracie.
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