Cricket T20 World Cup: Enter Saudi Arabia

Even before the favorites take to the field for the start of the Super 12 stage this weekend, the men's T20 cricket World Cup in Australia has captured attention around the world, mainly thanks to the classic sporting underdog story of Scotland's beating the 2012 and 2016 winners, the West Indies.

During the highlights packages broadcast around the globe, the word Aramco was virtually ever-present: dyed in the grass, flashing up on advertising hoardings and painted on to the stumps.

The largest oil exporter in the world by some measures, Aramco is owned by the Saudi state. Its foray into World Cup cricket is just the latest gambit in a national sports portfolio that also includes ownership of Formula One's Aston Martin team, Premier League football team Newcastle United, the breakaway LIV Golf International tournament and plenty more.

A recent deal with the popular and lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL), and the access to the huge Indian market that brings, preceded the International Cricket Council's (ICC) October 14 announcement that Aramco had become its "global partner." The deal includes sponsorship of "all major men's and women's ICC events" over the coming years, essentially all the top-level international tournaments.

Saudis continue to invest in sport

"Cricket has a huge audience and is a very popular sport and known as a sport based on good values such as fair play. These are values Saudi Arabia would much rather be associated with instead of as a pervasive human rights violator," Stanis Elsborg, from Danish transparency and democracy in sport advocates Play the Game, told DW.

"They are heavily involved in sport and, as time goes by, Saudi Arabia just adds new layers to its sports strategy," Elsborg said. "They are just getting started. For Saudi Arabia, sport is not just sportswashing and a practice of image laundering; it is about much more: power in international relations."

Much like at Newcastle, Yasir Al-Rummayyan, a key ally of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's, plays a key role here. In the football deal, he was the governor of the Public Investment Fund, widely seen as a smokescreen for state ownership, before becoming Newcastle's chairman. In the cricket deal, he was Aramco's chairman, and he's also heavily involved in the government's pursuit of golf.

Company representatives maintain that Aramco's motivation is based on reflecting shared values of "excellence, innovation and community," particularly in the field of sustainability.

"Our partnership with ICC reflects our shared focus on sustainability and innovation, as the ICC moves towards making cricket a more sustainable sport," the company told DW in a statement. "Aramco recycling machines will be installed across all seven match venues in Australia for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup later this month. Plastic waste recycled from these machines will be converted into clothing for future ICC events."

Union: Players can boycott Aramco

Nevertheless, consistently troubling reports from human rights organizations, the war in Yemen and the high-profile killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi cast a dim light on the country. Similarly, the government's Vision 2030 project makes a host of bold claims but is seen by many, from a sporting perspective, as an attempt to gain a more sympathetic perception in the West through sport.

After concerns were raised about cricket's deal with Aramco, its players' union, the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, said they would back any players who expressed their opinions on the deal, which includes sponsorships of the player of the match awards.

"Part of our proposal includes a framework for dialogue on how cricket approaches human rights responsibilities. In the meantime, if individual players do not want to be associated with a particular sponsor, we would support that," the union said.

What that would look like is unclear, though with some cricketers becoming increasingly vocal on political and environmental issues in recent years, it may yet come in to play during the tournament.

"I am not sure how this will work out in practice, but Aramco will be presented all over the place in cricket, on banners, in commercials, and at award ceremonies and so on. I don't think they'd react very well [to any boycott]," Elsborg said. "But they are used to Western criticism, and they will handle this as well."

Indeed, a DW question to Aramco on the issue of potential player protests went unanswered.

What of Saudi cricket?

While there has been criticism of Saudi involvement in sport, it has come mainly from sections of the media and more politically engaged fans, rather than from the masses. Newcastle United's owners have quickly become part of the Premier League furniture, much as Manchester City's UAE backers and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich did before them.

While Saudi's political allies, and fellow sportswashers, the UAE had a team in the World Cup before their elimination on Thursday, the home country of cricket's newest flagship sponsor are No. 33 in in the men's world rankings, behind the likes of Tanzania, Singapore and Italy.

Saudi Arabia have been registered with the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) for less than 20 years and the country's cricket federation lists just 7,200 active players. Their women's side was only formed in March and has lost all five of its matches.

Yet neither Aramco nor the ICC mentioned growing the game in the country in their joint statement announcing the partnership.

In their statement to DW, Aramco merely insisted: "We firmly believe that our sponsorships have the power to create lasting, positive impact in the world of sport, which in turn enriches lives and drives competitive ambition — both in the Kingdom and around the world."

What will grow, as the tournament progresses and the big names start to enter, is brand recognition of Aramco and, company representatives hope, acceptance of the business and the country on the international stage. If football is anything to go by, bigger aims will follow: Saudi Arabia are shortlisted as AFC Asian Cup hosts in 2027 and a bid for the men's World Cup in 2030 has been reported.

It seems likely that a supporting role in cricket will only suffice for so long.

Edited by: Matt Ford