Simon Chadwick

Opinion | It’s money versus morals for the world’s sporting bodies as Saudi Arabia becomes newest honeypot destination for Western interests

When the action starts will the world’s sports policymakers go missing or take a stand against authoritarian regimes?

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Saudi Arabians may be seeing a lot more elite sport in the coming years after signalling its intention to show it is becoming a more progressive society through sport. Photo: Reuters

Simon Chadwick

Published: 8:00am, 16 Oct 2018Updated: 10:41am, 16 Oct 2018

“Going missing” is a metaphorical term in sport that is often applied to athletes who fail to deliver, especially during important contests. Off the field, however, several events over the last few years have brought the metaphor to life, with countless individuals relevant to sport literally having disappeared.

As English football team Wolverhampton Wanderers grow in confidence following their promotion to the Premier League, fans of the club should remain mindful of the fact that its owner (Chinese businessman Guo Guangchang, chairman of Fosun) went missing towards the end of 2015. So serious was this matter that at one stage company officials requested a suspension of trade in their respective Hong Kong and Shanghai-listed shares.

Guo subsequently reappeared, at which time it was explained that he had “been helping Chinese authorities”, a euphemism that typically means someone in business has incurred the wrath of state officials.

Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman rubbed shoulders with Fifa president Gianni Infantino and Russian president Vladimir Putin at the World Cup in Russia. Photo: AFP

Guo clearly didn’t learn from his earlier experience, however, as during the summer of 2017, he was widely rumoured to have gone missing again amid suspicions that he was borrowing heavily from Chinese financial institutions.

Once more, Guo subsequently reappeared, although he had not been alone in his travails. Around the same time, sports investor Wang Jianlin (who at that point owned a significant stake in Spanish football club Atletico Madrid) was also reported missing. Stories spread that his passport had been confiscated by the Chinese government in light of concerns about his spending overseas. After some time out of the spotlight, and following his retrenchment from several investments (including Atletico), Wang too reappeared.

More recently, the disappearances of actress Fan Bingbing (apparently for reasons linked to taxation) and Interpol president Meng Hongwei (suspected of accepting bribes) have highlighted just how common “going missing” in China actually is. Yet it is not the only country in which the disappearance of important figures seems to be routine.