Lionel Messi made a deal in 2021 to bring more tourists to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Many people called that deal, along with others involving Saudi Arabia in sports like LIV Golf, “sportswashing.” 

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This means that the regime was using its money and power in sports to try to hide criticisms of its human rights record, its part in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and other things. Messi’s club, Paris Saint-Germain, suspended him in May after he came back from a “unauthorized” trip to Saudi Arabia without permission. This happened on and off the pitch as well.

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Messi is now going to the Major League Soccer (MLS). He decided to sign with Inter Miami FC instead of taking the reportedly huge offer to play for Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. So, it’s not clear what will happen with his tourist deal in the future. 

Around that time, though, Karim Zidan and Tariq Panja of The New York Times were able to get a copy of Messi’s tourist agreement with Saudi Arabia and look it over. It’s not clear if the version they got is the current or implemented one (it’s from January 2021 and was signed by Messi, his business manager, and his brother Rodrigo, but not by Saudi officials), but it seems to match some of the things he’s done to promote the country and spells out his duties and pay.