Saudi Arabia will soon be welcoming world class sport to its shores after five international partnerships were announced in London during a landmark 24-hours for the country.

The Saudi General Sports Authority (GSA) have confirmed agreements with the World Boxing Super Series and Spain’s La Liga respectively.

Motor racing, drone racing and chess will also venture into new ground in the country, confirming a historic day not only in sport, but also the wider culture of Saudi Arabia.

That is none more so evident than in the boxing ring – where Saudi’s very own version of the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ or ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ could be just a few months away.

That’s because boxing is set to enter new territory when the final of the inaugural World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) cruiserweight tournament will be held next year, likely to come to Jeddah in May.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Muhammad Ali trophy and a total prize fund of €50million are up for grabs for the champion in a knockout tournament that has already enjoyed a wealth of success – despite this being its maiden year as a competition.

“Boxing is a global sport, if you look at the big fighters and the big fights through history, they haven’t always been in the classic venues where you would associate boxing,” said Kalle Sauerland, chief boxing officer of Comosa, owners and organisers of the WBSS.

“Instead of London, New York or Las Vegas, they’ve taken part in Zaire for example, the ‘The Rumble in the Jungle’ and ‘The Thrilla in Manila’ were amazing and it’s fantastic that boxing has this global transcendence.

“With the Ali trophy, we’ve got a signal of the great man’s ambassadorial brand and that’s something we’re hoping can awaken the boxing world of Saudi Arabia.

“The whole world will be watching. This is the best versus the best, the world champions, the undefeated challengers and this is the first time there has ever been a Champions League trophy at stake.”

Away from the ring, this autumn also saw Saudi Arabia qualify for the football FIFA World Cup for the fifth time – but the nation is far from content at merely taking its place in Russia next year.

Instead, there is belief that the future could see them eclipsing their previous best performance 23 years after qualifying for the first time and notching a round-of-16 finish.

But, after the GSA shook hands with Spanish football’s La Liga, that best-place finish could be a thing of the past.

Not only has an academy partnership been agreed, but Saudi will now also benefit from a talent ID scouting initiative for young footballers – a move which will see the brightest stars plying their trade in the same country as global giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

“This agreement will enable some of the scouters and head coaches in La Liga to come to Saudi and watch the best of the best which, for the national team players, is great news,” explained Dr Adel M. Ezzat, president of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.

“All the support we are getting in the football sector is very important, the sector is huge and we are always looking to do our best in preparation for the World Cup.

“In the long-term, we will be focusing on the youth, selecting the best players to be enrolled in the youth teams in Spain, while we will be establishing La Liga academies in Saudi Arabia.

“These agreements will help us be with the vision of Saudi Arabia, it is the number one sport in the country, and this can help making the nation one of the best in football in the world.”

Commenting on the announcements, Turki Al-Alsheikh, President of The General Sports Authority (GSA) said: "These partnerships are part of the GSA's ongoing and longer term plan to invest in sport and bring world class events to the region. As well as the excitement and enjoyment they will bring sports fans across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, they will be underscored by significant grass roots activity and schools programmes that will also lead to wider social and economic benefits for the country."

While traditional sports will become a focal point of coming years, the Middle Eastern nation is also set to become a pioneer into a new wave of entertainment and technology.

And what better way to do that than by hosting the 2018 Drone Racing League Allianz World Championship next September.

That is what will come the way of the Kingdom next year for the very first time as the top eight pilots in the world do battle at speeds exceeding 90mph, extending to what has already become a rapidly-growing fanbase.

But just as significantly, the final race is set to be broadcast by 87 countries to an audience of billions, with this arguably the perfect time for Saudi to be taking their own slice of the technological pie.

And for Drone Racing League COO Ben Johnson, taking this idea to the country was very much a no-brainer.

He said: “We’ve expanded into Europe in just two years and we’ve been looking for an iconic place to host our World Championships for next season, so this is a big step for us and fans of drone racing everywhere.

“It’s such a unique opportunity for us to expose a new audience to this, we’ve been broadcasting our first two seasons without being able to bring a live event there yet.

“We’re just two years old, it’s been a quick two years but in that time, we’ve reached 55 million global broadcast viewers, so we do have an audience around the world of people finding new sport.

“We see ourselves as a sport of the future, we want to get people there and flying drones themselves, so this is about us trying to engage an audience in Saudi Arabia that can hopefully take it global very quickly.”

While drone racing is in its infancy, the same cannot be said for the Race of Champions (ROC) – heading to the Kingdom for the first time after they too made agreements with the GSA, the latest addition in what is quickly becoming an impressive array of new acquisitions.

Featuring the likes of Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel in recent editions, the Race of Champions sees competitors from across the motorsport world come together and battle to be the best of the best.

With 30 years of competition already this is far from the early steps, though president and founder Fredrik Johnsson is confident ROC can have its own transformation in a new home.

“Race of Champions has always been at the forefront of progress and we feel like we’re the most modern aspect of motorsport so it is a perfect fit for Saudi Arabia now that the Kingdom is emerging as a sports market on the global scale,” he said.

“Fans can come into a big stadium where they used to watch football matches, come and see all the action from beginning to end in a format that is short and fan.

“We transform big sports stadiums into massive race tracks, something we’ve done in Wembley Stadium, the Olympic Stadium in London, the Bird’s Nest in Beijing and last year we were in Marlins Park in Miami.

“We bring in some of the world’s best drivers from all the leagues, Formula 1 against Le Mans, against IndyCar, against Nascar, against Rally Cross – and it’s all about driver skill and entertaining the crowds.”

Beyond this being a one-off event, ROC is determined to leave a legacy behind in Saudi Arabia, with locals having the chance to get in on the experience from the passenger seat, also getting new motor skills in the process.

That co-operative participation looks set to come from chess too, after it was announced that the World Chess Championships are to be hosted in Saudi for the next three years.

To be known as the King Salman World Chess Championship, this is far from the end for the sport which will also play host to the World Chess Final in 2020.

Yet for World Chess Federation CEO Geoffrey Borg, this venture is about more than just the elite.

“Saudi has moved quite a lot both socially and in sport, now we’ve had been able to move quickly and fruitfully to have this very large event coming,” he said.

“It’s a matter of people getting together and competing, chess is an intellectual sport, it will help to bridge people together and there are many areas where we can explain how chess helps the human mind.

“Part of the projects in the future will likely see the development of chess in schools in Saudi.

“That’s where you address millions of children, Saudi has a very young population, so the more fruitful the participation in sports and intellectual sports, that’s where you get the better citizens of the future.”