First, there was the stunning news that the Saudi Arabian-backed LIV Golf announced that it was going to merge with the PGA Tour, whose commissioner Jay Monahan had accused players who had joined the rebel circuit of helping the country "sportswash" its reputation, while at the same time claiming that there was growing evidence of Riyadh’s "culpability in the 9/11 attacks" on the United States.

There is nobody who doesn’t believe that it is the Saudis who have won this fight with the merger leading to the creation of a new worldwide golf entity chaired by Yasir al-Rumayyan, the Governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Then, last Saturday (June 10), Manchester City completed an historic treble by lifting the Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Inter Milan in the final in Istanbul. Critics were quick to claim that City’s achievement, which also included winning the Premier League and FA Cup, should have an asterisk next to it.

Abu Dhabi wealth has elevated City to the elite of European football over the past 15 years, an unimagined scenario for a club once very much in the shadows of city neighbours Manchester United and, who in May 1998, I saw relegated to League One, the third tier of English football.

Manchester City's unlikely rise to the top of the sport started in 2008 when they were taken over by Abu Dhabi United Group, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) based private equity company owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the current Deputy Prime Minister of the country. Since then, they won the Premier League seven times, including in five of the last six seasons.

In that same period, they have been fined twice by UEFA for breaking Financial Fair Play rules and for obstructing a second investigation into their compliance with those rules intended to prevent unrestricted spending. Now, they are facing allegations that they cheated with 115 Premier League charges linked to overinflating or disguising the source of income linked to their UAE ownership.

All of this is coming off the back, remember, of Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup following a bid process where it is largely accepted that the FIFA members who made the decision were bribed. Qatar has always denied they were behind anything illegal, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming that something deeply wrong took place during the process.

Saudi Arabia will hope that they can enjoy the same kind of success in European football as the UAE having purchased an 80 per cent stake in Manchester City’s Premier League rivals Newcastle United in October 2021. Early signs are promising after the club, who have a massive fan base but have not won a trophy since 1969, qualified for next season’s Champions League under its new chairman al-Rumayyan - yes, the same one who is now set to head world golf.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE looks like they could face competition from Middle East rivals Qatar, whose Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani appears increasingly likely to have won his campaign to take over Manchester United after tabling a £4.7 billion ($6 billion/€5.5 billion) bid. It will be interesting to see if the United fans so vocal since Istanbul are quite so anti-Middle East money once it is flowing into their club. 

Saudi Arabia is also investing heavily in its own domestic league, having already tempted Cristiano Ronaldo to sign for Al-Nassr on a reported $211 million (£165 million/€193 million) per year contract. Last week, the PIF continued its investment purchasing 75 per cent stakes in four separate Saudi Premier League teams, including Ronaldo's Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal.

The country is due to host the FIFA Club World Cup later this year, an ideal opportunity to showcase its joint bid with Greece for the 2030 World Cup.

Boxing, Formula one and esports are other sports that the Saudis have invested in heavily recently, leaving one to wonder where they will look next. Certainly, if they can take over a sport like golf so easily, it means that none are safe from being corrupted by Middle Eastern oil money.

If, for example, they wanted to diversify into athletics then setting up a rival circuit to World Athletics’ Diamond League offering more money and opportunities would be fairly straightforward in a sport where so many of its stars still live a hand-to-mouth existence.

Qatar has long coveted the Olympic Games as, what it sees, as the jewel in the crown of hosting events. Saudi Arabia are also increasingly beginning to flutter their eye-lashes at an International Olympic Committee (IOC) who, under President Thomas Bach, have already proven that a poor human rights record should not necessarily exclude a country from hosting the Games. 

If the Middle East is bankrolling world sport, then you can be sure that they will want to have a big say in how it is administered.

The ink was barely dry on the agreement between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour before it was announced that Monahan, who was supposed to be the chief executive of the new governing body, was taking a break due to unspecified medial conditions. 

It is unthinkable that the Saudis would allow anyone who has so publicly criticised their human rights record to play any sort of major role in a sport they own.

In most cases it is most likely that, instead of standing themselves, the UAE and Saudi Arabia will support foreigners sympathetic to their interests to act as proxies at international federations and other governing bodies to ensure that their investments are protected.

That could be good news for Russia.

Since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has been largely cast out into the cold by world sport, whose federations are currently largely dominated by European and North American officials.

The Middle East, though, does not really care about Moscow's role in Ukraine and there is plenty of evidence that the region is embracing Russia amid fears that the United States is abandoning the region.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, an IOC member, last October publicly thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for his support in helping the country organise the FIFA World Cup and said he is "proud" of the relationship between the two countries.

It is widely acknowledged that Russia and Saudi Arabia have worked with each other for several years to control the global oil market and it is not in the interests of either country for that relationship to end.

The UAE and Russia are currently working together on a number of technology projects and Dubai has increasingly become a home from home for rich Russians looking for somewhere to continue conducting business while their own country is facing international sanctions. 

On Monday (June 12), the famous Burj Khalifa skyscraper and its famous fountains was painted in the colours of the Russian flag to celebrate Russia Day in Dubai.

World sport is facing a consequential period that seems certain to lead to monumental changes, both on the field and in the boardroom. 

Remember, he who pays the loud player calls the tune.