Posting Photos on SNS Leads to '2.5 Billion Deposit'... Messi and Saudi Arabia's 'Secret Contract' Revealed

Messi - Saudi Tourism Authority Contract Details Revealed
250 Million KRW Each for SNS Photo Posts and Event Participation
"Human Rights Abuses in Saudi... 'Sportswashing' Controversy Too"

Soccer player Lionel Messi is reportedly earning tens of millions of dollars just by posting travel photos on social networking services (SNS). This is thanks to a promotional contract with the Saudi Arabian government.

The New York Times (NYT) revealed the contents of the contract between Messi's side and the Saudi Arabian Tourism Authority on the 18th (local time). According to the media, Messi must take a family trip of at least five days once a year in Saudi Arabia, or two trips of three days each annually.

Specifically, posting 10 promotional posts about Saudi Arabia on his SNS accounts annually earns him $2 million, participating in the annual tourism campaign events adds another $2 million, and participating in other charitable activities adds an additional $2 million.

Photos of Saudi Arabia posted by Lionel Messi on his Instagram account. [Image source=Instagram]

Through such 'Saudi travel,' Messi is known to receive an astronomical amount of money. Last year, Messi posted photos visiting various places in Saudi Arabia on his official Instagram with the hashtag 'Visit Saudi,' and the NYT reported that Messi received $2 million (approximately 2.56 billion KRW) per post from the Tourism Authority. Visit Saudi is the brand of the Saudi Tourism Authority.

In May this year, Messi traveled to Saudi Arabia during the season without permission from his club (Paris Saint-Germain) and posted photos on Instagram. This was an act that risked disciplinary action from the club, but it turned out that such promotional activities were part of the contract with the Saudi Tourism Authority.

This sparked controversy among some sports fans. The fact that Messi, a world-renowned soccer player, acts as a promotional ambassador for the Saudi government, which is embroiled in human rights abuse controversies, is criticized as 'sports washing.' Sports washing refers to the act of using popular sports to erase controversies or criticisms related to a country's human rights and democracy issues.

However, former soccer player Raiko Garcia Cabrera, who is known to have been involved in the contract between Messi and the Saudi Tourism Authority, told the NYT, "Compared to the salaries of other famous players like Ronaldo and Benzema, the money Messi receives is just a 'small amount,'" and added, "I was surprised to see that Messi does not demand an enormous amount."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.