Ever since one of the most talented football players went to play in the Saudi Pro League, the landscape of the sport in the region started to change. Cristiano Ronaldo’s appeal can never be understated, in this transfer window a lot of players who are still in their prime are moving to the Saudi Pro League, and the league will become bigger and greater in the years to come. In this blog, we are going to ask the question as to why is this sudden focus on football from Saudi Arabia? What does this mean for other leagues such as the MLS? Should Europe be worried about the integrity of the sport that they so love?
Make sure to head over to the LV BET Sports Blog to read more about interesting topics surrounding football and your favourite club. More on LV BET Sports Blog, Sandro Tonali to Newcastle United, the effect of Lionel Messi on MLS, Declan Rice being the most wanted midfielder in the Premier League and much much more.
Why is Saudi Arabia investing so much in football?
The Gulf countries (Qatar, Saudia Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) are well known for their oil and the dynasty that they have built over the years selling oil to the rest of the world. Recently, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, has made his intentions clear that he wants to move away from selling oil and diversifying the economy, through sport.
We all know and remember the shock result obtained by Saudi Arabia against Argentina, in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. That result shows that football is already on the rise in the country and that people in the region are crazy about the sport. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, took control over four clubs from the Saudi Pro League. Al Ahli, Al Ittihad, Al Hilal and Al Nassr are the four controlled by Saudi Arabia’s ministry of sport.
Now these clubs have been very active in the transfer market, getting in household names such as Ruben Neves, Karim Benzema and N’Golo Kante, with plenty of others being linked with a move to the East. This comes as no surprise after Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al Nassr, pocketing an eye-watering €200m a year.
But the question is why? As we know oil is finite and countries such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar have enjoyed a great deal of it, but now they are looking to diversify their economy and creating other revenue streams. Instead of selling oil they are looking to get into sport, improving the league and pocketing TV rights money as well as improving the tourism in the region. A very similar story happened earlier this month when Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the merger between the Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the American PGA. This manouvere received a lot of backlash as everything was kept secret until everything was confirmed from both parties.
Now, the SPL (Saudi Pro League) has instructed IMG, a company that specialises in promoting football matches to the world to seal a deal and promote the league’s matches as much as possible. This comes after the deals of Benzema, Kante, Neves, and many others have been confirmed. The SPL is banking on expanding even further and becoming a force in the overall scheme of things relating to football.
One must not forget that Newcastle United are owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, fronted by Amanda Staveley and Yasir Al-Rymayyan. The squad has been injected with a well-needed boost in terms of enthusiasm as well as transfer budget to help them climb back the ladder of the Premier League. The takeover from Mike Ashley was long, and a lot of due diligence had to be done first, but eventually, the deal went through, and Newcastle United find themselves in Champions League football next year.
In a similar scenario, Manchester United are in advanced talks over their takeover as the Qatari Foundation look to make inroads in the market as well. Since the FIFA World Cup, they want to keep the ball moving and capitalise on this favourable opportunity.
Players joining the Saudi Pro League
Players confirmed to be participating in the Saudi League next season:
- Cristiano Ronaldo to Al Nassr
- Karim Benzema to Al Ittihad
- Roberto Firmino to Al Ahli
- Ngolo Kante to Al Ittihad
- Ruben Neves to Al Hilal
- Kalidou Koulibali to Al Hilal
- Edouard Mendy to Al Ahli
- Brozovic to Al Nassr
Potential transfers, yet to be confirmed:
- Bernardo Silva to Al Hilal
- Hakim Ziyech to Al Nassr
- Sergio Ramos to Al Ahli
- Matt Doherty to Al Ittihad
The effect on other leagues
The model being implemented by the Saudi Pro League and the Public Investment Fund is very similar to what the MLS had been doing for the past decade. So the threat is not necessarily towards the big European league that we all know and love, but more towards the MLS. In our recent blog on the effect of Lionel Messi on the MLS we discussed how the league has progressively increased its impact on football and the huge commercial deal that they have with Apple, projecting matches to the world. Now such a deal is far from being announced for the Saudi Pro League, but the number of players moving to the Saudi League in one transfer window suggests that this is not something that will die out soon.
Over the years, the MLS was blessed with the talents of Thierry Henry, David Beckham, David Villa, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Wayne Rooney and now the biggest of them all, Lionel Messi. The league has expanded considerably and is now standing at 30 football teams, whilst the Saudi Pro League has 64 clubs, 16 participating in the Professional League, 20 in the first division and 28 in the second division.
The way that the league is structured, the Saudis have a more complete dynamic as opposed to the one in America, who are warming up to the idea of going to the stadium and watching a football match rather than basketball, baseball or American football.
The impact of this drastic investment from the Gulf countries could harm the big leagues if this investment is sustained over a period of years. This means that teams would find it difficult to offer comparative salaries to prospective players, reducing the quality of players available in Europe, but the appeal is pretty much to perform at the highest level in Europe at the moment, and it would need a gigantic shift to alter that mindset.