The Ministry of Sport (MoS; ), formerly the General Sports Authority (GSA; ), is a government ministry responsible for

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. The Ministry of Sport was previously known as the General Sports Authority and before that as the General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW), which was created in 1974. General Sport Authority
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History

The General Presidency of Youth Welfare (GPYW) was established in 1974 by royal decree by the late King Faisal Bin Abdul-Aziz. In July 1987, the GPYW launched the Leadership Institute campus, the main Saudi entity accredited with training the youth to become expert trainers in sport. The GPYW became known as the General Sports Authority in May 2016, following a royal decree restructuring the entity and placing Prince Abdullah bin Musaad Al Saud as its chairman. Mohammed Al-Sheikh was appointed to the position of chairman of GSA in April 2017, replacing Prince Abdullah bin Musaad Al Saud. On September 6, Mohammed Al-Sheikh was replaced by Turki bin Abdel Muhsin Al-Asheikh at this position.

Community sports

The Ministry of Sport’ remit of improving and developing the sports environment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia includes a focus on encouraging sports and physical activity at the grassroots level. Towards that end, the Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA) was created in 2018 as a dedicated body to drive community sports. In 2019, it was given the official mandate to lead community sports initiatives supporting the Saudi Vision 2030’s goals. The Quality of Life program calls for increasing the number of people undertaking regular physical activity in the Kingdom to 40% by 2030. Under the Ministry of Sport umbrella, the SFA is helping the Kingdom meet this target by creating sporting opportunities, encouraging lifestyle changes, and initiating campaigns and challenges encouraging physical activity. The SFA runs year-round initiatives, including community activities, sports challenges, virtual walking and running challenges, tournaments, and activations of public spaces to host sports-related activities. The SFA App, launched in 2020 for iOS and Android devices, serves as the central hub for these initiatives. The App also hosts the SFA Rewards program, where users are incentivized to stay active by earning points that can be redeemed against gifts or charitable donations. The SFA collaborates closely with public and private sector entities such as the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (SAOC), Ministry of Sport, Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) to further its goal of a healthier, more active Saudi Arabia.

Football

In 2014, the Ministry of Sport unveiled a new stadium,

King Abdullah Sports City King Abdullah Sports City Stadium (), known as Alinma Bank, Alinma Stadium due to sponsorship reasons, also nicknamed The Shining Jewel () or simply The Jewel, is a Multi-purpose stadium and the main stadium of the sports city located 30 kilome ...

(KASC), which hosted the final of the 2014 King Cup. After the appointment of Turki Al-Asheikh as chairman in 2017, a committee was formed to find local talent in Saudi Arabian youth, and develop them into professional footballers. 70 young persons were admitted in the first edition of the program. Some tournaments and award systems were also restructured: The Crown Prince Cup was renamed the Super Cup, and the First Class Tournament became the Prince Faisal bin Fahd Tournament. The reward of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup was raised from SAR 5.5 million to SAR 10 million. Saudi Arabia is all set to host

Supercopa de Espana Supercopa can refer to: *Supercopa de España (disambiguation) *Supercopa do Brasil, a Brazilian football (soccer) competition. *Supercopa Honduras, a defunct Honduran football (soccer) competition. *Supercopa de Costa Rica, a Costa Rican Football ...

for the first time and stage another huge sporting event in the kingdom with top teams like Barcelona F.C., Valencia F.C., and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

participating. However, the number of foreign supporters flying to

for attending the match is fewer than 200, paying upwards of £2,000. According to AS, less than even 40 Madrid fans have chosen to fly to the semi-final. Out of all the tickets put up for sale, under 10% have only been sold while most are not sold at all yet. In July 2020, the ministry of sport launched Mahd Sports Academy, a sports academy that aims to scout, help, and train Saudi talent in various sports. The establishment of the academy is in line with

Saudi Vision 2030 Saudi Vision 2030 (, sometimes called Project 2030) is a government program launched by Saudi Arabia which aims to achieve the goal of increased diversification economically, socially, and culturally, in line with the vision of Saudi crown pri ...

goals to develop the sports sector in Saudi Arabia.

Women in sports

On August 1, 2016, Princess

Reema bint Bandar Al Saud Reema bint Bandar Al Saud (; born 15 February 1975) is the current List of ambassadors of Saudi Arabia to the United States, Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, a position her father had also previously held. Appointed by Salman of Sa ...

became the vice-president of Women’s Affairs at the Ministry of Sport. In July 2017, the Saudi government announced physical education classes would be made available to girls in public state schools.

Professional wrestling

WWE

On March 5, 2018, the American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

promotion

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

and the Saudi General Sports Authority advertised a

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

and

livestreaming Livestreaming, live-streaming, or live streaming is the streaming of video or audio in real time or near real time. While often referred to simply as ''streaming'', the real-time nature of livestreaming differentiates it from other non- liv ...

event called the Greatest Royal Rumble to be held on 27 April at the

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

. The event showcased a 50-man

Royal Rumble match The Royal Rumble match is a professional wrestling match based on the classic battle royal match in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the ...

, rather than the traditional 30-men, for the first time in the history of WWE.

Braun Strowman Adam Joseph Scherr (born September 6, 1983) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and Strongman (strength athlete), strongman. As a wrestler, he is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2013 to 2025, where he performed un ...

, who was the 41st entrant in the match, won by lastly eliminating

Big Cass William Morrissey (born August 16, 1986) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Big Bill and is a member of The Learning Tree. He is also a former one-time AEW World Tag Team Champi ...

. Strowman later received the Greatest Royal Rumble Trophy and a Greatest Royal Rumble Championship belt from Chairman of the Saudi General Sports Authority, Turki bin Abdel Muhsin Al-Asheikh and WWE Chairman

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...

. This event marked the beginning of a 10-year strategic multi-platform partnership with WWE and the Saudi General Sports Authority, usually consisting of two premium live events per year (Except in 2020 and 2021, where the country hosted one PLE each due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia The COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia is part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The Index case, first case in the king ...

). Prior to this partnership, WWE had previously done WWE Live tours in the country.

Description

The Ministry of Sport represents Saudi Arabian sport at an international level and manages the

Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee Saudi Olympic & Paralympic Committee (IOC code: KSA; ) is the National Olympic Committee and the National Paralympic Committee representing Saudi Arabia. Until the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Saudi Arabia was one of three countries that had ...

as well as all thirty Saudi sports federations. Locally, it defines all sporting objectives. Current work by the Ministry of Sport covers five areas: *Increasing the society’s level of participation in sports and physical activity *Creating a competitive sports industry *Developing the quality of local sports facilities *Improving financial sustainability of the sports sector *Achieving more transparency in its institutional performance and culture Most sports facilities in Saudi Arabia are owned and managed by the Ministry of Sport. This includes twenty-four sports cities and stadiums such as the

King Fahd International Stadium King Fahd Sports City Stadium (), also nicknamed "The Tent" ( ) or "Pearl of Stadiums" ( ), is a Multi-purpose stadium and the main Stadium of the sports city in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the stadium is currently closed for reconstruction that wil ...

as well as indoor halls and swimming pools. Twenty-two youth hostels with sports facilities are operated by the Ministry of Sport across Saudi Arabia as well as two permanent youth camps in

Ta'if Taif (, ) is a city and governorate in Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarawat Mountains, Sarat Mountains, the city has a population of 563,282 pe ...

and Ha'il.

Governance

The following are past chairmen of the General Sports Authority: *

Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud ( ''Khālid bin Fayṣal Āl Suʿūd''; born 24 February 1940), commonly known as Khalid Al-Faisal, is a Saudi Arabian politician, artist, and poet who is the governor of Makkah Province, in office from 2007 to 2013 an ...

Faisal bin Fahd Faisal bin Fahd Al Saud (; 26 December 1946 – 21 August 1999) was the president of Youth Welfare in Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 1999. He was a member of the House of Saud, a son of King Fahd, and one of the grandsons of Saudi's founder King Ab ...

* Sultan bin Fahd Al Saud *

Abdullah bin Musa'ad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Abdullah bin Mosaad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (; born 19 February 1965) is the son of Prince Mosaad bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and grandson of King Abdulaziz. He was general president of Saudi Arabia's General Sports Authority from 2014 to 2017. He ...

Asst. Dr. Mansour Bin Abdullah AlMansour *Mohammad bin Abdulmalik Al-Asheikh *Turki Abdulmohsen Al-Asheikh

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control 1974 establishments in Saudi Arabia

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

Sport in Saudi Arabia Sports governing bodies in Saudi Arabia Sports organizations established in 1974