Saudi Arabia has stepped up its efforts to move into cricket by launching a World Cricket Festival (WCF), designed to showcase the Kingdom’s potential as a major player in global cricket.
The WCF is set to take place in November 2025, and will be a four-day event including live entertainment and cultural showcases alongside innovative new formats of cricket. Reportedly, the festival will feature the F2 Double Wicket World Cup, a new two-player format which will “maximise action, shorten match times and deliver a fast-paced, streaming-friendly product”. The ‘World Cup’ will be played by 10 international teams, and will also reportedly feature other innovations including a ‘Super-sub rule’ and ‘Fire-ball over’, in the hope to engage new audiences.
Launching the WCF is the biggest step the Saudi Arabia Cricket Federation (SAFC) has taken to expand the cricket economy in Saudi Arabia so far. Over the next 18 months following the festival, several flagship leagues are set to get underway around the Kingdom, including a T10 league called TX Arabia, and the Gulf Premier League (GPL) soft-ball tournament, which is designed to increase recreational cricket participation within Saudi Arabia.
Vision 2030 – Why is Saudi Arabia investing in cricket tournaments?
Cricket is a big part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, which is a government initiative to diversify the Kingdom across economic, cultural and social lines – in particular decreasing its economic reliance on oil. Launched in 2016, sport has played an important part in that vision, particularly visible in the establishment of the LIV Golf series, investments made in Formula One and a successful bid to host the 2034 FIFA World Cup. The Kingdom has also become a host of major events across sports like boxing, WWE, ATP tennis and horse racing. Simply, Saudi Arabia has led a revolution in the global sports landscape over the last decade, and is still rapidly expanding its portfolio.
In March this year, it was announced that the sports investment arm of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (SURJ Sports) was set to invest $500 million into a new international T20 league, inspired by the tennis Grand Slam format. The league will feature eight franchise teams competing across four different international venues each year. While Cricket Australia reportedly showed interest in partnering the new league and acting as a host, in June this year the ECB and BCCI agreed to unite to oppose the venture, pledging not to grant their players No Objection Certificates to play in it. The ICC, which must give approval for the league to proceed in an official capacity, has yet to take a formal stance, although it will be unlikely to go against the wishes of the BCCI. To add a complication, the ICC has strengthened its ties with Saudi Arabia in recent years, including a four-year deal with state-owned oil company Aramco as its global partner.
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At the centre of Saudi Arabia’s interest in cricket is the Cricket Investment Company (CIC), which is the commercial arm of the SACF. Its objective is to build the Kingdom’s cricket economy from the bottom up, increasing grassroots participation and professional leagues. As a part of that plan, the WCF is expected to generate $13.75 million in its first year, and exceed over $40 million in revenue by 2028, playing a big part in the vision to turn the Kingdom into a global cricket economic power-house, with the influence to match.
Who could be involved in The World Cricket Festival?
So far, no players have confirmed their involvement in the WCF. However, former Australian cricketer Neil Maxwell is the driving force behind the expansion of the Saudi T20 League, and he is also Pat Cummins’ manager. In addition, former Australia soccer executive, Danny Townsend, heads up SURJ Sports Investments.
While it’s unlikely the ECB or BCCI will grant NOCs to allow their players to participate, given that Cricket Australia has expressed interest in partnering with Saudi Arabian cricket products over the last year, there’s potential for some high profile Australian players to feature. According to the festival’s social media coverage, former Pakistan spinner Saqlain Mushtaq and former India Test player Wasim Jaffer were both in attendance.
What is the F2 Double Wicket World Cup?
The WCF will feature a brand new format of cricket. Although few fine details about the rules of the format have been released, it will reportedly be a two-player format designed to shorten match-times and make games unpredictable. There will also reportedly be other new rules in the format, such as the Super Sub rule – detailed as for ‘strategic substitutions’ – and Fire-ball over, which will reportedly ‘create dramatic highlights for live fans and streaming audiences’.
The tournament will be played between 10 international teams, with no details on the squads for those yet released.
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