Kingdom of Football

Name: Kingdom of Football
Price: 39.99 AUD
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ISBN: 9781911723660

Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen

$39.99

Hardback

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English

Miscellaneous
01 February 2026

Middle Eastern history; Sports & outdoor recreation; Football (Soccer, Association football)

Kingdom of Football explores how and why Saudi Arabia burst onto the landscape of world football in 2023, and examines what the speed and scale of Saudi engagement

as investor, owner, sponsor, host and competitor

might mean for the Kingdom and for football.

Writing as both a football fan and a Gulf specialist, Kristian Coates Ulrichsen offers historical and comparative contexts for Saudi Arabia's startling emergence as a world football hub in the 2020s, exploring both previous Saudi investment in the game, in the 1970s, and national attempts elsewhere to kickstart the sport, as in the United States, Japan and China.

Going beyond popular media labels such as 'sportswashing', this fascinating book examines what drives Saudi policymaking, connecting the move into football with domestic economic and social developments, as well as external and foreign policy considerations. It also examines how Riyadh's foray into world football both builds upon and yet differs from the approaches taken by other Gulf States, such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Finally,Coates Ulrichsen assesses the sustainability and durability of the Kingdom's engagement with the sport in the decade-long countdown to the 2034 FIFA World Cup, which Saudi Arabia is set to host.

By: Kristian Coates Ulrichsen
Imprint: Miscellaneous
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781911723660
ISBN 10: 1911723669
Pages: 264
Publication Date: 01 February 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. His books with Hurst include Insecure Gulf and Centers of Power in the Arab Gulf States. He supports West Ham.

Reviews for Kingdom of Football: Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer

‘A book of tremendous value. With verve, Ulrichsen traverses the worlds of sports and politics and shows the intimate connections between the two in the context of contemporary Saudi Arabia, as it undergoes one of the world’s most profound and dizzying transformations.’ -- <b>Mehran Kamrava, author, and Professor of Government, Georgetown University in Qatar</b> ‘Sophisticated, nuanced and insightful. Kingdom of Football bridges sports studies, Middle Eastern politics and international relations in a novel and valuable way.’ -- <b>Marc Owen Jones, author, and Associate Professor of Media Analytics, Northwestern University in Qatar</b>