Mohamed el-Assy , the right hand in the UD Almeria of the Minister of Entertainment of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Turki el-Sheikh , leaves no doubt in his interview with El País last Monday. The new general director and sports director of the modest Almeria club, which aspires to go up to the First Division, intends to unlink the Islamist regime from the decision to buy the club. "If the Saudi Government endorses me, I go and buy Manchester United, my friend, and I don't waste my time in the Spanish Second Division in the hope of a promotion! I buy a club of 1,000 million, not 21!"

Perhaps no one has spoken so clearly, despite the negative statement, about the strategy of gradual penetration of the Gulf monarchies in European football . That is not just a buoyant business. Even when athletes pay their taxes and fines for fraud to the Treasury. It is, first and foremost, the spectacle with the greatest capacity to mobilize masses willing to give up any moral norm so as not to miss a match. It happened in January in the Saudi city of Jeddah, where the Italian Super Cup was played between Juventus and Milan. Following the discriminatory practice of Wahhabism (the most radical interpretation of Islam), women could only attend the stadium in the area reserved for families. Until last year, they could not even enter the premises. The two Italian clubs accepted. As the Spanish Government has just done through the Higher Sports Council, endorsing the proposal that the Royal Spanish Football Federation negotiates with Saudi Arabia to dispute there the next Super Cup, with an expanded system, that is, with more teams and more games to dispute If, as you might expect, the rules are those imposed by the Wahhabi regime, will Spanish clubs accept? And the hobby? Will the fans go?

Gulf dictatorships have discovered that with money and entertainment everything is possible. The case of Xavi Hernández is paradigmatic. With his wife and two children, he has lived in Qatar for four years. The first three as a footballer. At a rate of ten million euros per season. Now he has stayed in the same club as a coach. He complements his salary as ambassador of the absolutist monarchy for the World Cup in Qatar 2022 . "I don't live in a democratic country, but I think the system here works better than the one there." Only someone who despises human rights in exchange for money can speak like this. Xavi Hernandez. Prince of Asturias Award .

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