Engulfed: How Saudi Arabia Bought Sport, and the World

by James Montague

In 2034, Saudi Arabia will host the men's FIFA World Cup and mark the culmination of Mohammed bin Salman's ambitious plan to modernise Saudi Arabia, a kingdom of unfathomable wealth at the heart of the Islamic world, which is only now emerging from nearly a century of self-isolation. How did we get here? Why would a country spend tens of billions of dollars, perhaps even hundreds of billions in the long run, to buy and control sport?

Engulfed is a story about ambition, family rivalries, extreme wealth, power, murder and disinformation. It is also the story of dictatorship, political corruption and, at its root, how sport - football, yes, but also golf, boxing and even e-sports - became a vital geopolitical tool for Saudi Arabia.

Drawing on Montague's exclusive first-hand interviews from his extensive travels across Saudi Arabia, the US, the north-east of England, Spain, Turkey and beyond, Engulfed uncovers how the House of Saud zeroed in on the political power of sport, using it both as a powerful political tool of influence and as a way to rectify the PR damage caused by one of the most infamous assassinations in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Politics, Football, Religion, Soccer, History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 27, 2025

About the author

James Montague is an author and journalist from Chelmsford, Essex.

He has reported for the New York Times, BBC World Service, Delayed Gratification and The Blizzard, amongst others, and has reported from over 100 different countries and unrecognised territories.

He is the author of four highly-praised football books - When Friday Comes, Thirty One Nil, The Billionaires Club and 1312: Among the Ultras - and is a two time winner of Football Book of the Year at the British Sports Book of the Year awards.

His fifth book, Engulfed: How Saudi Arabia Bought Sport, and the World, will be published in the spring of 2025.

Reviews

[Bryson Boddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was great to get a deep dive on this topic from all angles. It’s felt like years of crumbs and now they’ve finally been moulded into a full story. Montage does a great job of presenting the voices of fans and insiders alike.

[Isaac Wade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty interesting. Not especially forensic, for me doesn't tell you much more than you already know if you read the news and/or listen to a weekly football podcast.

What the book does really well is outlining how embarrassing and craven all the parties involved are (Gianni Infantino lobbying for FIFA's new club world cup competition immediately after the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi sticks in the mind).

But what the book kind of falls flat on its face on is actually engaging with or addressing the devil's advocate argument against Saudi Arabia's involvement with sport. Why is it sportswashing when the PIF invest in a growing industries but not when it's an American billionaire? Why is it seemingly only football's responsibility to call out this investment when the UK arms industry can profit from Saudi's war/ethnic cleansing with the Houthis/Yemeni people; not to mention F1, rugby, cricket, etc?

Still, pretty interesting. Nice read

[Alex Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but could be a long read article. Too focused on Newcastle United.

[Euan Washbourn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introductory work on Saudi Arabia and their investment in sport and how it has shifted the landscape of sport with spending on a quite mind-boggling scale. extremely well researched and gave a frightening account of how ruthless MBS is, cuts right through the carefully curated image that he has tried to build for himself as a so called 'reformer', really he is a blood thirsty, self-indulgent psychopath. Appreciate that this book has a sport focus but I would have loved more on the NEOM project - definitely want to learn more about that. An absolutely ridiculous, ludicrous stupid saudi vanity project, the scale of which is quite stupid and has caused the displacement and death of untold numbers of indigenous populations and modern day slave labourers. Perhaps a little too much on Newcastle United but understand that their purchase of the club is the fulcrum of their investment in sport in England and this book will be targeting readers in the UK.

Left me wanting to learn more and that's usually a sign of a TM good read.

[Lucas Novick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great entry book into understanding Saudi Arabia’s entry into sports. This book does a stellar job in explaining sportswashing pushing beyond the idea that sportswashing is just about distracting the masses. In addition to this, the book has some really interesting anecdotes, and the section on esports in Saudi Arabia was particularly strong. As I tend to find with these popular non fiction books, however, the information gets a tad repetitive as the author will repeat stuff which he mentioned a previous chapter (this is understandable). Overall, this is a great entry book, but don’t expect a lot of nitty gritty facts and figures. The focus on the book is more on sportswashing and the authoritarianism of the Saudi regime than on business dynamics and things of that nature.

[nia · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was an educational read and i had been looking forward to reading it, but it was also incredibly slow - the details are all over the place and reads almost strangley as a direct result.

there are split chapters for various sports that the author didn't seem interested in / to care about and it left a bad taste in my mouth as i was particularly interested in seeing about golf and esports (being a former esports journalist) but these were overlooked or other immaterial details were focused on leaving it feeling lacklustre and like it missed the point entirely.

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have an interest in Saudi having worked in the Middle East for 10 years so was expecting this book to be a blend of history, social politics and the arrival of world class sport to the kingdom. But it was largely about football and commentary of certain football matches. Granted football is a huge part of the rise of sport in the Middle East and I should have noted that the author is a football specialized one but I lost interest after a while. There are a couple of chapters on the rise of boxing but it’s football.

[jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed every page of this but cannot help but leave with one massive question - what makes the United States different? We are hosting a world cup in 7 months, while building concentration camps in the south. I am not excusing Qatar, or Saudi Arabia, for their human rights abuses, far from it. I am asking western journalists to have the ability to look into the mirror.

[Gareth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did like this book. But they were preaching to the choir. So, in a way, I didn’t learn anything new.

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to understand why Saudi are investing so heavily in sport - and why that’s concerning.

[Iona Wyllie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a girly who has never watched a round of golf, a boxing match or a full 90 minutes of football, this book had me hooked.

[Douwi Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet more proof that greed is our biggest flaw. Very worrying times ahead for sport. An interesting read overall.

[Dan Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

[Richard FitzGerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very English and western bias

How can you write a diary story without really living there

It was sorry without west sports dealt with change, obviously some people are reluctant to change

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t watch football and don’t know much about it, so I wasn’t sure how I’d get on with this when someone recommended it.
I loved it.
Montague has an engaging, witty style; a great instinct for pace; and a real talent for scene-setting. These attributes make this informative, analytical and thoughtful book a real page-turner.

[Matt Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Montague is just the most interesting football writer out there. All of his books are on great topic and all bang.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched and interesting subject matter. Excellent detail about politics / history. A little disjointed in places, and doesn’t always follow through on threads. Also, whilst an anchor was a good tool, anchoring to Newcastle (which made sense given the audience) started to bore me.