Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the US are the countries to watch in sport in 2025
Professor Simon Chadwick explains why Morocco, Saudi Arabia and the United States are his three countries to watch in sport in 2025.
With the global sport industry apparently set to continue on its growth trajectory in 2025, albeit in the context of uncertain geopolitical times, many countries across the world will find themselves jockeying for a position of power and influence.
Early signs are that China is about to re-engage in its pursuit of industrial development, Qatar seems to be awakening from its post-2022 sporting lull, while Argentina’s president is challenging his country’s sport sector in new and disruptive ways.
In 2024, France flexed its sporting muscles principally through its hosting of the Olympic Games, while the likes of Denmark and South Korea have sought competitive advantage in the esports and gaming industries.
Looking ahead to the next 12 months, each of these countries and many others will be worth watching, though there are three that warrant particular attention.
Morocco
The Moroccan national team’s passage to the semi-final of football’s 2022 men’s World Cup was international sport’s feelgood story of that year.
For those from the MENA region, the team’s performance served as a rallying point for the Arab world and demonstrated the power of diasporas, as many of the team’s players were raised in other countries.
For those from Europe and elsewhere, Morocco seemed to infuse the global game with a sense of romance.
However, the North African nation’s success was neither an accident nor a simple matter of whimsy.
Morocco is seriously intent on becoming a major player, both in sport and more generally in regional and global affairs.
In 2025, Morocco will play host to the Africa Cup of Nations, which will serve as a prelude to its co-hosting of the 2030 men’s World Cup.
Furthermore, the country will host the women’s Under-17 World Cup for the first time, a competition that will take place there for five editions up to 2029.
Meanwhile, construction is now underway of the world’s biggest football stadium – the Grand Stade Hassan II in Casablanca – which will have a capacity of 115,000 seats.
Government officials in Rabat are intent on securing the right to stage the tournament’s final, fending off competition from the recently revamped Bernabeu in Madrid.
Doing so wouldn’t just be about bragging rights; there remain some sharp, unresolved geopolitical issues between the African country and its European neighbour, so securing the final would help the African nation make an important point.
Morocco is not Saudi Arabia or Qatar, it doesn’t have vast oil and gas reserves, though it is home to more than 70 per cent of the world’s known phosphate reserves.
Revenues drawn from these will enable the country’s pursuit of sporting glory and help to build its strategic positioning as being the gateway to Africa.
In recent years, nations from the continent have commonly had the world’s fastest growing economies.
Given the combination of positioning and prosperity, Morocco is already committed to further development of its sport industry ecosystem, as well as improvements in elite athlete performance developments. For a country that has big ambitions, 2025 will be a pivotal year.
Saudi Arabia
No surprise that the Gulf nation makes the list of countries to look out for in 2025, which will mark the 10th anniversary of Mohammed Bin Salman’s ascent to the position of de facto ruler.
Back in 2015, his government made early moves to improve the financial performance of Saudi Arabia’s top football clubs. In the time since, it seems as though the entire world of sport has become centred upon the kingdom, which is exactly what the country’s leaders have always wanted.
Following the award of hosting rights to the 2034 men’s World Cup, 2025 will be the year that Saudi Arabia’s strategic ambitions become turbocharged.
National transformation and sportswashing narratives aside – both of which have become the topic of rather tired, jaundiced discussions – the country will be seeking to assert its positioning as an AfroEuroasian hub, where the development of a domestic sport ecosystem that extends way beyond simply domestically hosting events is fast-tracked.
Inevitably, there is likely to be a speculative frenzy among those seeking to capitalise upon Saudi Arabia’s growing role in world sport, however what is clear is that its government sees developments over the next decade as being for Saudis by Saudis.
This crucial detail in the country’s thinking means that those wishing to engage with it on World Cup and other sport projects will need to have a sharp sense of the contribution they can make to national well-being and transformation.
In Riyadh’s corridors of power, there is already an established culture of getting value for money from projects the country spends on, something which will increasingly be accompanied by a hard-nosed approach to negotiations with companies and nations pursuing a share of the economic and financial windfall that will come via Saudi Arabia’s fast elevating status in sport.
United States
For as long as sport has been conceived of as an industry, the United States has been top dog – at one stage accounting for 40 per cent of global industry size.
However, its position has been under threat for some time; indeed, one current estimate is that the US may now account for just over 30 per cent of global industry size.
In 2025, it is expected that China will announce that it is the world’s biggest domestic sport economy. Add to this the investments in sport being made by Gulf countries, and it is clear that US sports industry pre-eminence is being challenged like never before.
How incoming president Donald Trump responds to this situation will be important both for the US and the global sport industries.
There will be several opportunities for the new administration to re-assert its position, notably via its staging of FIFA’s new Club World Cup competition.
If next year’s tournament goes well, then the US might become its long-term home. One reason for this is the country’s economic stability and commercial maturity, though they will be challenged if Trump makes good on his promise to impose sanctions on non-American goods.
With the likes of China’s Hisense set to sponsor the Club World Cup and, among others, Qatar Airways sponsoring the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup, confidence in the US sport industry could be undermined.
The significance of such geopolitical threats must not be underestimated; in 2019, the NBA became in embroiled in a fractious row with China which still remains unresolved, though the league is seeking ways back into the East Asian market.
If and how Trump can enable this could be an acid test of how the US government intends to respond to the country’s diminishing position in the sport industry.