Qatar's $300 Billion Trophy

It's not just the World Cup. Middle Eastern countries are spending heavily to snag F1 races and other marquee events By Simone Foxman, Ben Bartenstein and Janet Paskin

Qatar’s bid to host this year’s FIFA World Cup was controversial from the start. Beyond objections to the country’s history of human-rights abuses, there were also the searing temperatures and the sheer logistical challenges to consider: one outdated stadium, few hotels and zero experience with mass tourism.

Nothing, it turns out, that immense sums of money couldn’t address. Twelve years after winning the rights to host the tournament and $300 billion later, the tiny gas-rich nation is ready to host the best players in men’s soccer and about a million of their biggest fans. There are seven new stadiums, 20,000 new hotel rooms, a new metro and more than 1,100 miles of new roads, the culmination of a decade of nonstop construction and investment.

Qatar’s spending on sports isn’t confined to the World Cup. Since being awarded the event by FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, the country has been on a spree, buying a majority stake in Paris Saint-Germain—one of France’s top soccer clubs—and a 22% interest in Portuguese team SC Braga. It held a Formula One race in 2021, then secured a decade long hosting contract that starts next year.

The nation’s wealthiest neighbors have matched the spending on sports blow for blow. The region will host four F1 races in 2023, while Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi each own an English Premier League soccer team. There’s also LIV Golf, growing investments in e-sports and major boxing and mixed martial arts events. In October two teams from the National Basketball Association played a preseason game in the Middle East, a first for the US league.