Stacy Boit,

The decision by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to stop bankrolling LIV Golf at the end of the season has plunged the future of the breakaway series into doubt.

It has also posed questions over the country’s many other sporting investments.

After all, the kingdom has ploughed tens of billions of pounds over the past decade into establishing itself as a global sports hub, hosting an array of major events, from high-profile boxing fights and Formula 1 races, to tennis and horse racing. Most significantly, the kingdom will host the men’s Fifa World Cup in 2034.

“PIF remains committed to deploying capital internationally in line with its investment strategy, including its substantial current and future investments in various sports as a priority sector.”

The final sentence of the statement released by PIF on Thursday when finally announcing it was pulling out of LIV Golf, ending weeks of intense speculation.

The intended message was clear; despite abandoning a tour it had long portrayed as the future of the game, Saudi Arabia was still committed to the world of sport.

Up until recently, no such reassurance would have been required.

Its huge spending has also extended to luring some of the world’s biggest stars – including Cristiano Ronaldo – to its revamped domestic football league, and buying a majority stake in Premier League club Newcastle United.

A sprawling collection of sports sponsorships cemented its burgeoning and disruptive influence over international sport, and a future Olympic bid felt like a formality.

The country claimed that this was designed to help it to modernise and to diversify its economy by boosting tourism as part of the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 strategy, while inspiring its population to be more active.

Critics of its human rights record accused it of ‘sportswashing’ its reputation. The country’s international standing was severely damaged by the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based Saudi journalist who was a prominent critic of the government. It has also faced scrutiny over its use of the death penalty.

But whatever the motive, has Saudi Arabia’s relationship with sport started to cool?