By Satvik Shubham
The Saudi Pro League, also known as the Abdul Latif Jameel League, is the top division of football in Saudi Arabia. Established in 1976, the league is now known as one of the most prominent leagues in the Middle East.
While the league may seem normal, the Middle Eastern sector has had lucrative investments over the past few years. Highlighted in the last 12 months, the future of Saudi football is looking bright, as is their 2030 World Cup charge, led by none other than Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.
In order to analyze the headline-making division, it is impossible to look past the five-time Champions League winner. It all started in November 2022, when Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina in their World Cup opener, shocking fans. Now, this was one way to grab the attention of billions, but the royalty in the Middle East had something else in mind. On the penultimate day of 2022, SPL side Al Nassr announced that they had signed Cristiano Ronaldo on a two-and-a-half-year contract worth over $200m annually. This left football fans in a state of shock. Did Ronaldo take the easy way out? Perhaps, but it is likely to be part of something equally significant off the pitch as it seems to be on it.
While it may be true that Ronaldo stuck out like a sore thumb in the Middle Eastern country, many followed this move the following summer. With a net spend of -$200m since the scorching season began, this begged the sustainability query. How can they spend this much, and will it last? Or will it have a short peak, similar to the Chinese Super League? However, one key factor immediately would be the caliber of players being signed. While the CSL was home to talented players such as Oscar, Graziano Pelle, Miranda, and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, the SPL is taking it a step further, buying all-time greats. The statement signings of the aforementioned Cristiano Ronaldo, Ballon d’Or winning Karim Benzema, World Cup, and Champions League winner N’Golo Kante.
An identical question posed crucial at the beginning of this business: regarding the age of the players being signed. While Ronaldo and Benzema may bring massive commercial interest to Saudi Arabia, it is unlikely that it would help develop the division’s future. However, signings like Ruben Neves, Jota, and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic prove to be shaping up like prime deals in the grand scheme of things when it comes to ‘retirement home’ allegations.
The European hegemony when it comes to football has had a long and grueling history of fighting off competitors. With the rise of the SPL, is this finally the moment another league rises from the shadows? Money can do great things, but spending it always requires a strategy. When looking at the jaw-dropping deals this summer, it is almost impossible not to glance back at the CSL and what they attempted to do not too long ago. A plan that ultimately failed catastrophically at challenging European outfits, the SPL is undoubtedly different.
When seeing these deals, it is easy to say, ‘all the clubs are government funded, so of course they’re developing it.’ Now that’s where the facade of simplicity tends to fade. Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman announced ‘Vision 2030,’ which aims to diversify the Saudi Arabian economy’s sectors, such as education, infrastructure, health, and tourism. The last one is pivotal here since sporting events will always be a prominent touristic superpower.
Spending money is encouraged to fund national development, which is done by the Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia. At first glance to most European football fans, the Saudi League business is being done by every club. However, in reality, only four clubs are making significant moves in the market: Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad, and Al-Ahli. What do these outfits have in common? Well, they are all majorly owned by the PIF. Now, why would they only have a stake in these four clubs? Is it not bound to create a significant imbalance if the league was to develop into a titan of world football? Well, yes, but many theorize that Saudi Arabian investors are simply attempting to create an established top four, similar to that in La Liga or Serie A in the present day.
PIF owning four clubs allows the income to be more centralized, ensuring a more compact structure, unlike the CSL, where most clubs were owned by private stakeholders who spent their money as they pleased. When the plan was seemingly collapsing, league regulations limited the signings of foreign players, which led to the division taking a big hit in terms of publicity and quality. The PIF has only said farewell to a small fraction of their wealth in order to get the publicity mill going when people start talking about a league that guarantees attention for the next few months, enough time for teams to start gradually spending less, and employing a more financially sustainable method.
So, in the end, it is all down to the structure; if the SPL continues this model with the PIF owning clubs, then the Middle Eastern division may reach far higher heights than the CSL could have ever dreamed. However, publicity is a dangerous commodity, one moment, it could be the year’s topic, and another, it will be forgotten. Tourism is a crucial goal of the Saudi Arabian royalty, which is how they intend to get it. While external factors also played a part in bringing the CSL down, it is impossible not to criticize their gung-ho strategy, one that the SPL higher ups will certainly be using as a counterexample when it comes to the league’s newfound popularity when it comes to mainstream media and garnering the attention of Europe’s best players.
The author is an aspiring journalist currently studying at Michigan State University, based in Helsinki, Finland.
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