It’s been about a year since the Saudi Arabia project started gaining major traction. The most popular person in the world, or rather the most popular person on Instagram- same thing really, Cristiano Ronaldo, packed his bags and went off to Saudi for money that was literally unheard of at the time.
Hundreds of Millions per season. That is a lot of FIFA Points. The reactions to this were mixed. On a financial level, it was a mixture of the wealth of athletes is a grotesque consequence of capitalism and go on, get your bag, Ronny.
On a Sporting level, it was a mixture of this league is a joke, nowhere near the levels that this guy should be playing at, and this league really isn’t that bad, plus this is a great way to grow it’s profile- no harm done.
On a political level- saying it was controversial is an understatement.
Ronaldo wasn’t the only big name that made the switch. 8 and 9 figure deals for 2 seasons of football went the way of dozens of footballers we all know too well. And just as many were rejected too.
A year on, what do we know now? Well, it seems that this ambitious project isn’t exactly going according to plan. Over the past few weeks, news, leaks and rumours have been coming out of Saudi Arabia pertaining to quite a few high profile players- most of them negative.
Jordan Henderson has apparently accomplished his mission of “growing the game” in Saudi Arabia and wants to head back to Europe. Karim Benzema doesn’t feel like he needs to go to training. Turkish Super Cup games are being played in Saudi now. Or rather not being played.
Neymar is… Well, nothing new from Neymar, really.
It’s easy to think we’re seeing the demise of the Saudi League. But I don’t know if that’s the case. After all, transfer windows always spurn rumours.
What’s actually going on?
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Table of Contents
Where is the truth?
Before we get started on this one, I just want to preface a few things. It’s very hard for us to tell what is actually going on in Saudi Arabia. Not just from a footballing perspective.
A good example of this is Roberto Mancini, Saudi Arabian National Team Coach. Just the other day, he excluded 3 important Saudi players from the Asian Cup squads. He says it’s because they are not committed to the team, they say he is lying. Who’s telling the truth?
Apart from that, when doing the research for this one, it was difficult to come across an unbiased media outlet or a level-headed think piece that wasn’t fuelled by emotion, agenda or bias for or against the Saudi projects. This goes both ways.
The point I’m trying to make is that you can be critical without spreading hate towards an entire religion or country.
I usually shy away from going into politics on this channel because you guys deserve better than that- this is a football channel and nothing else should matter. But this is a hot topic and I’m going to have to at least mention some politics.
Mass Exodus 2.0
Having said all of that, the Saudi Pro-League has been on the radar as one that most pros should avoid for years now. And these aren’t my words.
In 2022, Fifpro listed Saudi Arabia as one of seven countries that players were advised against moving to. In case you’re unaware, Fifpro is essentially a global trade union for professional footballers. Meaning that this data is sourced from actual footballers around the world, not journalists with agendas.
The reasoning for advising against moving there was, among other factors, failure to frequent non-payment of salaries.
Injured players or quietly sidelined players have simply been left unpaid for reasons unknown to the players themselves, despite holding binding contracts. Over USD16 million has been paid to players by Saudi clubs in 2023 alone, after FIFA had to step in and mediate over such cases.
Obviously, this isn’t reflective of all cases, but it goes to show that there is a whole other side to pro life outside of the mega signing that have been flooding out timelines.
Anyway, let’s start this discussion off with Jordan Henderson. It’s a interesting case. At the end of last season, it was apparent that Jordan Henderson was no longer the player that Liverpool needed him to be to get back to the levels that they require.
Him, the corpse of Fabino and Havey Elliot were the usual midfield 3. Thiago and Arthur were apparently there, but there is no evidence.
He had two years left on his contract, where he was apparently earning a base of over £150,000 per week, so he was doing quite alright financially. But it was clear that he would play a smaller role going forward. Klopp wanted him to stay, though.
He was the captain, a large presence for Liverpool football club and, I would say, a highly respected footballer in the global community- who wouldn’t want him to stay?
Jordan Henderson. Jordan Henderson wouldn’t want him to stay.
Jordan Henderson was a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and was not shy of voicing his opinion for several other public matters when off the pitch. snip Maybe the most vocal of the captain’s who wore rainbow coloured armbands and laces during the Stonewall’s campaign in 2020.
3 years later, he’s joined a club from a country where homosexuality is illegal. All it took was £700,000 per week apparently.
It’s a strange story, it really is. But Henderson insisted that him being in Saudi Arabia was a positive thing.
Who knows, maybe he was there to change perceptions. 6 months later, it seems he’s had enough. Lots of noise has come out in the media about him looking for a way out of Saudi Arabia.
Perhaps it’s the 75 minute commute he has to make to get from his house in Bahrain to the Al Ettifaq training ground.
Perhaps it’s the heat- averaging out at a dry 35 degrees in the summer. Perhaps it’s the fact that his team plays in front of 2000 people at times and sits in 9th. With the Euros coming up, I’m pretty sure he might see that as a problem.
Then again, waistcoat man will never not pick his guy, so there’s that.
Whatever the reason is, looks like he’s out. So much so that he’s willing to deal with the apparently very costly tax implications. I’m a trained accountant , but perhaps this Athletic article can explain this better than I ever could.
Steven Gerard is the manager of Al-Ettifaq- things haven’t been going according to plan for him. No plans for him to leave have hit the news, but perhaps it seems that betting the future on him wasn’t the best idea.
Roberto Firmino hasn’t been playing much football for Al Ahli and is said to want out because of that.
Karim Benzema, who was adamant about joining the pro-league because Saudi Arabia is a muslim country appears to have done a 180 himself.
He deleted his Instagram in late December, presumably due to the backlash he’s been getting for a series of poor performances. A theory which I find difficult to believe, seeing as he played for Real Madrid. And Madrid fans are notoriously harsh.
He failed to report to training on a number of occasions and has been left out of the club’s mid-season training plans. Looks like he might be on the move. Please Manchester United- do not do this.
There’s been no outright negativity surrounding Sadio Mane and him wanting to leave. However, he’s been in the news lately. For… Moving along.
I briefly mentioned Roberto Mancini earlier. He’s been catching flack too. He left the Italy job to become the manager of the Saudi Arabian national team.
There’s been hype around the Saudi national team since their insane win against Argentina in the 2022 World Cup. They obviously are aiming to build on that.
But things haven’t been going great so far. Constant drama and only 4 wins in 9 games at the time of recording.
Like everyone else that’s migrated, he has insisted that it was because he believed in the longterm project and that it was never about the money. Around 25 million euros per annum after tax, apparently.
“The Arabian offer arrived afterwards and I would dare 100 people to say no to a contract like that. I think few, very few, would turn it down.”
Mancini’s own son said this about his father’s move to Saudi Arabia. It would be presumptuous to assume he speaks for Roberto Mancini, but it’s not the best look, you know.
But even if he does speak for him, I respect it. It’s an insane bag. Just be honest about your intentions.
Nobody would care about Jordan Henderson going over to Saudi if he simply said, “Listen, I’m 33 years old, If I stay in Merseyside, I’m going to be a bench player until I retire. I’m going for the bag.”
People would have been up in arms, particularly about the hypocrisy, but most of us would’ve said the same thing- “fair enough”.
The bigger picture
From our perspective, all of this seems really bad, doesn’t it?
According to all the news outlets, Saudi Arabia is too hot, the league is uncompetitive- which it undoubtedly is, the culture is too restrictive, which I find hard to believe. If you’re mega rich anywhere, I imagine, it’s a case of rules for thee and not for me.
And then when we hear news about Benzema, Firmino, Henderson and more complaining, anyone that was already against the Saudi project is in full “I told you so” mood.
At the same time, Cristiano Ronaldo will tell you that the league will be a top 5 league in the world eventually.
N’golo Kante will tell you that the level in the league is comparable to Ligue 1 in terms of quality. Which is wild considering that he played one season in Ligue 1, 10 years ago. To be fair, he’d know more than I would.
Anyway, player grievances shouldn’t be seen as the reason for the impending doom of the league if that’s what’s going on right now. Chalk it down to disgruntled employees.
Ronaldo is the highest scoring player in the world, Ruben Neves is doing well, Alexander Mitrovic, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Anderson Talisca- no complaints from them.
There’s more to it than that.
A better case for this can be made when looking at the international events hosting.
If you ask the crown prince what he thinks of the media fiasco that is the Saudi league and alleged sportwashing, he’ll say:
If sportswashing is going to increase my gross domestic product by 1 per cent, then we’ll continue to do sportswashing. I don’t care. I have 1 per cent growth in GDP and I am aiming for another 1.5 per cent.”
These were his actual words, he’s unbothered with the accusations.
The increase in hosting of international events is only ramping up it seems. Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou had their high profile fight in Riyadh, back in October 2023. Anthony Joshua made Otto Wallin look ordinary in late December.
Joshua vs Ngannou is gonna go down in Riyadh in March- this fight will be massive. The third season of LIV golf is set to commence in February.
In October of 2023, As per the Saudi Arabian FA, the Kingdom has hosted over 50 high profile international events since 2018 including but not limited to football, motorsports, tennis, equestrian, esports and golf. And they’re only getting started.
Increased number of high-profile games being held in Saudi Arabia, such as the Spanish Super Cup and the club world cup. Both of which have taken place over the last month.
There is growing belief that Saudi Arabia will host a World Cup within the next 10 years. In my opinion, this has already been decided, it just hasn’t been announced.
There’s also a feeling that Saudi Arabian FA will make a push to join the Champions League. No no, not the Asian Champions League where Saudi teams already compete in, The UEFA Champions League. Traditionally reserved for European teams, you know.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and the public powers that be all state that the Pro League is a non issue and this will never happen. But who knows really- these guys are willing to do a lot to add more games.
Turkish Super Cup Incident
What we do know is that recent history probably indicates that if anything of the sort ever happens, it will be met with resistance.
The 2023 Turkish Super Cup was scheduled to be held on the 29 December 2023 in Saudi Arabia.
official reasoning for having this one during the winter break instead of in August, as per usual, was that both teams have a congested fixture schedule.
In October, Saudi Arabia was chosen as the final venue. Bad Idea.
2023 was a very important year for the entirety of Turkey. It was in 1923 that Turkey established it’s governance structure as a republic. 100 years later and celebrations were needed. Preferably in Turkey. 100 logo
People were not happy when they heard this. However, the Turkish FA didn’t seem to care. To soften the blow, they pointed out to everyone that this wasn’t that big of a deal. The Spaniards and the Italians were also following suit, holding their cup finals in Saudi.
The Cup of the Century. The Cup of the Republic was set to be held outside of Turkey. Nothing could go wrong here, right?
Both teams wanted to at least warm up in custom shirts that featured Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of the republic of Turkey, and also display flags showing some well-known quotes of his.
However, this was denied by Saudi Authorities. That, along with the insistence of playing the Saudi Arabia’s national anthem during the opening ceremony left the teams one option apparently.
They refused to play, the match was cancelled, and they returned to Turkey as heroes. The location and date of the rescheduled match is yet to be announced.
Spanish Super Cup Incident
Real Madrid took on Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup. A Madrid derby being held in Saudi Arabia is wild as it. But the start of this match had a lot more to it than that.
Legend of the game, Franz Beckenbauer, sadly passed on at the age of 78 on 7th of January 2024. A minute of silence was supposed to be observed in honour of the great man. Instead, the moment of silence was instead met with boos.
Absolutely zero fans of Saudi Arabia were made in Europe that day.
The official reasoning for the boos is more or less unknown, but there have been lots of theories. One of them includes the fact that Toni Kroos has been highly critical of the Saudi pro league. He was playing that day.
He was booed loudly whenever he received the ball, too.
Another reason that’s been doing the rounds is that it’s simply not customary to observe moments of silence in Saudi Arabia. I don’t know if that’s true or not.
Whatever the reasoning is, surely you have to have more sense than to think that it’s okay to boo during a moment of silence for the passing of one of the most prominent figures in the history? Surely.
I really don’t care where you’re from or what your ideals are- that seems like the most avoidable controversy ever.
The real fear
Football in Saudi Arabia is clearly growing in prominence. The country Is football crazy, but mostly for international football. Being able to see their favourite stars in their own back yard is only a small part of the plan. The idea is for sports WITHIN the country.
And who’s to say that this is under jeopardy or that things are falling apart? A small handful of disillusioned footballers and their agents? Unlikely.
And I highly doubt we’ve seen the end of this. As long as the money is available, the traffic will not slow down.
I said this in the last video I made on Saudi Arabia and I’ll say it again:
In my eyes, if you’re a higher up in UEFA or any of the boards of clubs in the biggest leagues, being afraid of the potential of Saudi Arabia is the correct response.
Not just because they have lured the biggest players. Recently, it was announced that there will be a relaxing of the regulations regarding the number of foreign players that are allowed in a Pro-league football team.
The restriction will be lifted from 8 to 10 players. Rumour has it that most teams are looking to fill those extra spots with youth players from around the world- South America, Africa and Europe.
Where do most Europeans get their most talented youngsters? South America. Why do they go off to Europe? Money
Imagine if a Saudi team offered to pay for all of Messi’s medical bills early on and set his family up for life. Not saying he would’ve gone over there for sure. But he would’ve thought about it.
As long as they have the money, players will keep going there. And there isn’t much anyone can do about it. It’s a funny sentiment. One that several people around Europe have felt towards the Premier League, and one that several people around the world have felt about Europe.
Some food for thought.