Lausanne: Saudi Arabia will host the inaugural Olympic Games in 2025, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday.
“The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today that it has partnered with the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Saudi Arabia to host the inaugural Olympic Games 2025 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the body said.
“The proposal will be tabled at the IOC meeting to be held on the eve of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
“The duration of the partnership between the IOC and the Saudi NOC will be 12 years, with the Olympic Games being held regularly.”
Riyadh is set to host the eSports World Cup in July and August, where 2,500 players will battle it out for $60 million in prize money.
The IOC, in its continued quest to blend Olympic tradition with efforts to attract a younger audience, held an initial “Olympic eSports Week” in Singapore in June 2023, featuring “ten mixed-gender category events”.
Last October, the IOC formed an “e-Sports Commission” chaired by Frenchman David Lapartient, president of the International Cycling Union (UCI), to consider a dedicated competition.
However, IOC president Thomas Bach has said in the past that he does not see e-sports as part of the traditional Olympics.
“In terms of esports, our values are and remain a red line that we will never cross,” he said.
However, he expressed his happiness that Saudi Arabia is the natural home of esports games.
“We are very fortunate to be able to work with the Saudi NOC on the Olympic esports games, as it has excellent – if not unique – expertise in the field of esports with all its stakeholders,” Bach said in a statement.
“The Olympic Games will greatly benefit from this experience.
“By partnering with the Saudi NOC (National Olympic Committee), we have also ensured that the Olympic values are respected.
“In particular, in terms of sports titles in the program, the promotion of gender equality and engagement with young audiences, who are embracing esports.”
Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, Minister of Sports and Chairman of the Olympic and Paralympic Committee of Saudi Arabia, said that he is happy that his country is part of sports history.
“Saudi Arabia is very excited about the prospect of partnering with the IOC and helping usher in a completely new era for international sport,” he said.
“We believe that participating in the Olympic Games is the greatest honor any athlete can achieve.
“And we are proud to support the writing of a new chapter in Olympic history that has the potential to inspire new dreams and new ambitions in millions of athletes around the world.”
Conservative Saudi Arabia's bid to become a sports powerhouse is part of a larger effort to soften its hardline image.
That rebranding is central to the success of the Vision 2030 economic and social reform agenda designed to prepare the world's largest crude exporter for a prosperous post-oil future.
Last year, the state hosted its first ATP Tour event with the Next Gen Finals.
It also hosted the exhibition matches of Novak Djokovic vs. Carlos Alcaraz and Arina Sabalenka vs. Ons Jaber.
In early January, Saudi Arabia appointed Rafael Nadal as the ambassador of the Saudi Tennis Federation.
The country, which hosts the Formula 1 and MotoGP Grands Prix, as well as the Dakar Rally-Red, has recruited a large number of top soccer players to its national league in recent years.
The Kingdom has also hosted a series of headline-grabbing boxing matches, including a heavyweight unification bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury earlier this year.
