RIYADH: Aramco on Thursday signed a four-year global partnership with football’s governing body, FIFA, becoming a major worldwide partner in the energy category.
One of the world’s leading integrated energy and chemicals companies, Aramco will receive sponsorship rights for multiple events including the FIFA World Cup 2026 and FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027, according to the agreement, which runs until the end of 2027.
The deal also builds on a shared commitment to innovation and development, and will combine football’s global reach with Aramco’s history of championing innovation and community engagement.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the body is “delighted” to welcome Aramco to its family of global partners.
“The partnership will assist FIFA to deliver its flagship tournaments over the next four years and, as is the case with all our commercial agreements, enabling us to provide enhanced support to our 211 FIFA member associations across the globe,” he added.
Aramco has a strong record of supporting world-class events, but also developing grassroots sports initiatives, according to Infantino, who added that FIFA looks forward to collaborating with Aramco on a variety of schemes over the coming years.
“Through this partnership with FIFA, we aim to contribute to football development and harness the power of sport to make an impact around the globe,” said Amin Nasser, Aramco’s president and CEO.
The partnership reflects Aramco’s ambition to enable vibrant communities and extends the company’s backing of sport as a platform for growth, he added.
Through the partnership, Aramco and FIFA will leverage the power of football to create impactful social initiatives around the world.
Aramco will also work with FIFA to drive innovation, identifying opportunities to deploy its expertise and technologies in the delivery of football events globally.

RIYADH: The Professional Fighters League has announced the matchups for its debut PFL MENA: Riyadh fight card which will feature some of the region’s rising stars.

The season opener at The Green Halls in Riyadh will feature fighters in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions, competing in the PFL Playoff win-and-advance format, the company announced on Thursday.

Headlining the card will be Saudi Arabia’s Abdullah “The Reaper” Al-Qahtani taking on Morocco’s Taha Bendaoud in a featherweight bout.

“We’re proud to offer fighters in the MENA region a chance to compete. By bringing top-tier events to the region, we’re not only serving passionate MMA fans but also pushing the sport forward. Our goal is to grow MMA and expand PFL’s reach globally,” Pete Murray, CEO of PFL, said.

All four PFL MENA Season events will be broadcast live on MBC Action and Shahid.

The complete fight card:

Featherweight: Abdullah Al-Qahtani vs Taha Bendaoud

Bantamweight: Ali Taleb vs Nawras Abzakh

Bantamweight: Xavier Alaoui vs Rachid El-Hazoume

Featherweight: Islam Reda vs Adam Meskini

Bantamweight: Tariq Ismail vs Jalal Al-Daaja

Bantamweight: Elias Boudegzdame vs Hassan Mandour

Amateur Female Atomweight: Hattan Alsaif vs Nada Faheem

Featherweight: Maraoune Bellagouit vs Motaz Askar

Featherweight: Ahmed Tarek vs Abdelrahman Alhyasat

Showcase featherweight: Mido Mohamed vs Yazeed Hasanain

Showcase flyweight: Malik Basahel vs Harsh Pandya