Meet the 'Saudi Geordie' Newcastle United fan leading his country's bid for the 2034 World Cup
Saudi Arabia is ready to open its heart to the world with the Head of the Saudi World Cup 2034 bid insisting football fans won't get a "warmer welcome" anywhere else.
Hammad Albalawi is a self-proclaimed "Saudi Geordie" and is leading the Middle East country's bid to host what he promises will be one of the most spectacular World Cups in history. It was only in 2019 that Saudi Arabia swung open the doors for tourists with a new visa programme but with top-class boxing, snooker and the Ronaldo-led Saudi Pro League now in full swing, more and more fans are heading over to the Middle East.
And in the words of Albalawi he believes that Newcastle and England fans will feel like it is going home from home in terms of a warm friendly welcome. Albalawi, a lifelong Toon follower, told Chronicle Live: "That's who we are - we welcome people. It is in our DNA. In Newcastle, the hospitality is second to none. We feel it when me and my family come here.
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"My wife commented on it when we were here for the Southampton game, everybody walks down the street and says hello. It is different to other places and in Saudi Arabia, the DNA is similar to Newcastle.
"The warmth and the hospitality and people love welcoming others. You see it, people invite you to dinner and there is always a race over who wants to pay the bill first from the host country!
"That is because people in Saudi just love hosting others. It is what they want to be part of, we want to welcome the world. We very much looking forward to in 2034."
But as Saudi prepares 15 stadia for the World Cup in 2034 the World Cup chief hopes that fans won't wait until the tournament itself. He added: "Don't wait until 2034 to visit the Kingdom and see what it has to offer, fans can come to watch sport any time. It is worth familiarising themselves with our country before.
"In 2019 the Kingdom opened up their hearts to the world. It was on World Tourism Day. The Kingdom has always been the home for many travellers. Especially Muslims who visit Mecca and Medina for religious reasons.
"But it has been expanded other people can go to Saudi now. We want to host more sporting fans. We are very proud of what the country has been through. Join us on our remarkable transformation, because it is nothing short of that. The past eight years have been unbelievable with Vision 2030.."
Saudi chiefs don't just want to broaden their footballing horizons though, they also want fans to explore the Kingdom and see the "oasis of a million palm trees" during what they hope will be a memorable stay.
Albalawi said: "What you will see in the details of our bid is how we celebrate diversity. The Red Sea coast on the west has pristine beaches and marine life which we protect. We have wonderful ports. Jeddah is a cultural melting pot and has been for 100s of years.
"Diriyah, in the capital Riyadh, is the birthplace of the Kingdom and has a rich heritage. Al-Ahsa has an oasis of a million palm trees. Saudi will come alive with the food, entertainment, arts and music and we look forward to sharing it with everybody who visits."
Saudi Arabia has been immersed in football for many, many years. For the past few decades the football philosophy has developed.
"In the 1970s and 1980s there was actually massive investment in the game in Saudi. We have started to build competitive venues for both participating sports and for spectators. We saw the results, we won the Asian Cup in 1986 and we reached the final in the 1990s. Our best performance in the World Cup was in 1994 when we past the group stages and scored one of the most memorable goals when Saeed Al Owairan scored an individual wonder strike that is one of the biggest in World Cup history.
"Investment slowed at the turn of the millennium and so did our performances on the pitch. The national team missed two World Cups in 2010 and 2014. We were back in 2018 and we have launched or vision of 2030 which surrounds developing everything in the country, economically and socially, and otherwise. But for sports it is significant because there is hopefully a return in the investment that took place in the 80s and 90s."
He added: "We have already seen the Saudi Pro League attracting massive stars. And we are seeing a competitive league and our stars have done well at the Euros and the World Cup such as Ronaldo.
"We have one of the world's best in Ronaldo who has really enjoyed his life in the Kingdom and so have all the other stars. We continue this investment and the natural next step is to host the biggest football festival of them all in the FIFA World Cup. We are equal partners in the football community and have a right to be able to enjoy and put together a bid we believe is compelling.
"It puts the fans at the heart of the bid and we are very excited to share the details with the world. We are very excited to continue the conversation to December where we are very optimistic that the world that Saudi Arabia is a wonderful thing for the World Cup."
Getting to the Middle East and Saudi in particular is easier than ever these days and the tournament hosts feel that the compact nature of the competition will mean less travelling once supporters arrive.
The head of the bid unit said: "You know 60% of the world's population are an eight hour flight away from Saudi. That is an incredible opportunity. We are hosting the World Cup in five host cities which means fans don't really need to travel much to follow their teams.
"Fans will be able to congregate and meet other fans there. My first World Cup memories were in 2006 and meeting Ecuadorians and Germans, that is something fans will be able to enjoy especially as the trend in major event hosting is to split things. The 2030 World Cup will be across three continents. This will be a return to a more compact and seamless World Cup is something are very excited to be able to host."