By M Saad
Football in Saudi Arabia has come a long way. Almost two decades back, the Saudi national team was humiliatingly thrashed by Oliver Kahn’s formidable German team in the first round of the World Cup 2002. Saudis lost 8-0 to Germany, which went all the way to the 2002 World Cup final only to lose to Brazil, whose striker Ronaldo was on a goal-scoring spree throughout the tournament. During the World Cup in Qatar last year, despite not finding the back of the net in all of its other league games, the Saudis managed to humble Lionel Messi-led Argentina in group stages. However, the Falcons — as in the past five editions of the World Cup (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2018) — made an early exit in Qatar, leaving their fans who travelled in large numbers to the neighbouring host country highly disappointed.
Middle Eastern countries are known for their passion for football but unlike European and South American nations, they do not have a footballing culture, let alone rich history. Things started looking up in the region only after Qatar won the bid for hosting the World Cup. Professional leagues in Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been luring ageing stalwarts, who manage to get record deals worth millions of dollars in their twilight years by representing local clubs. However, these players cannot participate in top competitions and prestigious events such as the Champions League, UEFA Cup and others. After an event of the World Cup’s scale was hosted successfully by Qatar all things football are revving up in Saudi Arabia.
Of late, Saudi Pro League clubs Al-Nassr, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Hilal have been in the news for approaching and securing big players like former Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema (now with Al Hilal), Sadio Mané former Bayern Munich striker (now with Al-Nassr), former Chelsea player N’Golo Kanté (now with Al-Ittihad), Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar Jr (now with Al Hilal) and Kylian Mbappe, Sergio Busquets (now with Inter Miami), Luka Modric (still with Real Madrid), Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and others. These developments are taking place after Saudi club Al-Nassr’s successful post-World Cup signing of Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, where his ordinary performance showed that age is getting the better of him. Ronaldo’s World Cup career ended awfully for him with the former Manchester United midfielder leaving the pitch in tears while his fiercest rival throughout his career Argentina’s Messi went on to lift the trophy. The speculations of Messi joining a Saudi side were also ripe during the World Cup but the Argentine chose USA’s Miami FC over a $500 million per year deal offered by Al-Hilal.
The record-breaking deals offered by Saudi clubs are coming after the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund Public Investment Fund (PIB) headed by Saudi crown prince Muhammad bin Salman acquired major stakes (75% shares) in the top clubs of Saudi League such as Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli. At $778 billion, PIB is the world’s sixth-biggest sovereign wealth fund. It was behind the recent unification of PGA Tours and Saudi-backed rival LIV Golf-DP World Tour. These investments in sports are part of the Vision 2030 of the Saudi government. The Kingdom will be hosting the 2029 Asian Winter Games and is eyeing the bid for the 2034 World Cup.
In 2021, a consortium led by the PIB bought the English club Newcastle United. Despite backlash from the club’s fans and the takeover has done wonders for the struggling club, which managed to finish fourth last season in the Premier League. And the Saudi fans have an English club that they can cheer and call their own. In an article by British Journalist Oliver Kay, Saudi Arabia Football Federation (SAFF) President Yasser Al Misehal was quoted as saying about the acquisition that it was “purely a decision by the PIB. They have their own KPIs of investments we as a federation have nothing to do with it.”
Last year in September, Al Misehal had expressed his desire to see Ronaldo representing a Saudi club. He may not be the player of his youth but CR7, as he is popularly known, is still a brand. Ronaldo’s move to Al-Nassr has significantly enhanced the popularity club in the footballing world. The club has added over 14 million followers on Instagram after his arrival in Riyadh. In addition, the broadcasting rights of the Saudi League have been acquired by broadcasters in over 36 countries.
One can easily ascertain what the Saudis have in mind — they are intent on using financial resources to lure big names in football to revive the state of football in the kingdom. However, it remains to be seen how all this maneuvering will enhance the quality of football. In the Indian context, the international exposure young cricketers are getting due to the Indian Premier League has improved the overall quality of cricket being played in the country. Saudi football has a lot to gain from the top-class players joining clubs in the Kingdom because traditionally players from the country, barring Sami Al-Jaber’s move to Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2000 and Salem Al-Dawsari’s short spell at Villareal in 2018, have struggled to get the attention of foreign clubs. This lack of exposure in representing European and English clubs is hurting Saudi football, which has no achievements beyond Asia both at the club and international level.
The Saudis may win the bid for the World Cup 2034 following in the footsteps of their Qatari counterparts who were accused of bribing FIFA officials to win the bid for hosting the greatest sporting event on the planet. The kingdom is trying to change its image of being a backward-thinking country when it comes to women’s rights, punishments for crimes, and the arbitrary way dissent is generally dealt with on Saudi soil. There will certainly be voices and campaigns against the Saudi bid for the FIFA World Cup due to prevalent anti-Arab sentiments and the country’s will to follow Islamic criminal jurisprudence. There will be accusations of ‘sportwashing’. But Saudis are quite capable of pumping in billions of dollars to erase the past as they prepare to welcome the world to all-glittering Riyadh and futuristic cities the nation plans to build. It would not be difficult for Saudis to find another Michel Platini in FIFA to turn things around in their favour. Qatari investment in the French league had worked in their favour at the time of their bid. Seemingly, all the Saudi money in the English league will be put to good use when the time comes for the World Cup bid. From the look of things, bringing star power to the domestic league and familiarising the world with Saudi football is a good start.