Had a bit of listen to True Gerogie talking about the Saudi football league and how it could become a super power - would be good for Asia thoughts about it Saudi football becoming a threat to the European dominance 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMW6TgKwWMM

Nope...china done that b4 and nothing happened. Benzema, CR7 , Konte   are old & just there for the money.   

If they can attract the players at their prime like Haaland, Mbappe, KDB , Kane etc then yeah 

I think they only thing it'd have going for it is that it's closer to Europe and pays more than China? You'll see a lot of South Americans, North Africans and other Africans end up there. These parts of the world along with the Balkans are good at exporting players so expect the resident Serbian to be there for the money too. That's all those individual players care about no matter how much they express their interest in the 'project'.

In hindsight I was glad to rid the game of players who went to China. It's kind of a nice thing to have that if their head is going to be so financial based then they can go off there and offer a lower level of performance while the better driven, albeit still grossly overpaid, play in the best leagues in the world.

Benzema is the current Ballon D'or winner, so it's probably another level up from what China did. De Gea looks to be going as well now, so they are older players but it's a pretty good starting point. They seem to have unlimited money so it depends how far they want to go. What if it becomes ridiculous and they start offering players like Haaland 10 x what hes earning in England?

But even then, lets say you moved every player from the EPL to Saudi Arabian clubs and they had like 200 of the best 400 players in the world, would anyone really care and watch it? People care more about clubs than players. 

I guess people over 30 probably wouldn't be interested. but the younger eurosnob or I guess you can say Saudi snob who won't have the emotional connection to premier league clubs they could be swayed to following the Saudi league.

And that's a lot of the world's talent right there.  I doubt they'll ever be the world's "superleague" but if they actually spend billions on this project they could fill up the available spots in the league with the sort of young talent that might normally go to Germany, France or Italy and certainly start challenging those leagues.   The prestige of playing in Europe will be no match for the draw of earning salaries that are 2-8 times higher than what you could earn in those leagues.

Add a bunch of Ruben Neves type signings, and the high end young African and South American talent instead of the second and third tier talent they currently get from those regions and you've got yourself a serious league. 

The issue is they'd probably need to supply half the available spots with Saudi players so they'd need to put in some serious investment into youth development. Which they might already be planning to, I don't know.

Oil is the major difference between SA & China. 

China is an ageing demographic and has more important economic measures to address than spending endless sums of money on football players. 

SA are literally bored with the amount of money they have whilst the world relies on their oil reserves. 

I'm 66 and I'd be interested!

A previous poster has posted about proximity to the Balkans - and African players might be enticed  to play too. Although after having lived in restrictive Kuwait, the Saudi lifestyle is even more restrictive. That would be quite an impediment in attracting players.

Saudi already has a better national team than China too.

I'd consider the J League an Asian Superleague.

As the world eagerly seeks renewables, Saudi  might not have the demand for oil in the imminent future   - hence oil  revenue could decrease.

I think you have hit the nail right on the head there bud.... Sadly, this sort of thing is perfectly tailored to whoever doesnt have any conenction to a club and is jut a consumer of football... Follows their favourite players around the traps and based on what their ranking on FIFA2023 or FM is and pays more attention to instagram and twitter likes than the actual action on the pitch (save for tik tok highlights).....

Scary thing is the amount of cashola being thrown at these players.... Its NO retirement league like the Chinese and MLS is though, Benzema is the current Ballon D'Or and this is just the tip of the iceberg.... 

Sorry banzai, you made the same points :)

The question is "Why?"

How does Saudi Arabia benefit?  What is the return on investment?

Thats the trillion dollar question Enzo...... Its clearly part of their push for Saudi 2030 and their vision for re-inventing their country post oil... They will get the 2030 World Cup, I guess (Funnily enough they are bidding with Greece. hahahahahahaha as the token "Europe" country. hahahahahahahah Im still laughing about that one.... 

money, prestige, entertainment....

football in particular has CRAZY money 

14 years ago CR7 moved from UTD to RM for 100m that was MASSIVE at the time - now 100m is thrown around for players Rice.... 

in 15-20 more years players will be worth 300m or greater..... 

Nah, it's all ego. They always want the biggest thing. Same reason they'll gold plate a Veyron. Just so they can have the most gold plated Veyron. The revenue is a biproduct and less important. Football money is way less than oil money.

Oil money won't last forever - the world is moving away from FF 

the Arabs know this - Why do you think they are trying to build amazing cities for High end Tourist to visit....investing in other things 

20 years ago no one has any interest in visiting essentially what is the deserve now places like Doha, Dubai etc are seen as amazing high end retreats 

Yeah but Benzema is 35 year old and already retired from national team. He is on his way down and only got a few year left.  You can't compete with big 5 leagues if you can only buy old players. Unless they can get super stars under 30. 

China got Hulk & Oscar when they are at their prime in mid 20 and still playing for Brazil national team.

Saudi Arabia are also building a very interesting project called 'The Line' a linear smart city which will be powered by renewable energy, whether it works or not is another thing...

They are clearly focusing on the future and they clearly see football is a powerful tool as well.

ill add this 'Asia' is not the 'joke' it was 10-15 years ago 

People rate a NUMBER of AFC nations and players - football has become a much smaller place as the world has gotten more and more digital 

China was fighting against the idea EVERYONE OUTSIDE EUROPE AND SOUTH AMERICA IS SHIT  

That has changed big clubs arent just shopping in Africa anymore and South America anymore - even the AL being a professional league is getting eyes on it as clubs look for cheap talent 

i actually believe the Saudis could be the 1st big league in Asia - i know we have a few decent leagues ie J-league but it isnt really 'big' outside of Japan certainly outside of AFC 

Massive investment in renewable energy projects. Dwarfs anything we have. The Saudis are actively setting up fires these end of fossil fuels. 

Its very eye opening but also risky as well, not only very costly but has environmental risk but if they pull it off it could be a potential game changer for urban development.

So in a world were access to clean water, food and energy are going to create a massive divide in the haves and have nots for the next 100 years the Saudis are building modern day "Pyramids" in the sand with their ungodly wealth?
The cost of this "line in the sand" and the other ginormous cube thingy alone could set up desalinisation and farming facilites to feed ALL of Africa FOREVER....... 
This Saudi Pro league is just another shiny bauble, like flying their hunting falcons around first class and gold platting their cars as someone previously mentioned... They are collecting world class players for their league like somebody collecting Pokemon..... 

crazy to think how wealthy some of those fellas got from the growth of Stake.com bit of a scummy company though.

Surprised Salah hasn't been offered big big ronaldo type money, he would be huge draw card over there.

So the Kingdom is building a replica of the set from The Fifth Element in the Arabian desert in the hope that this will transform Saudi's economy as it divests from Oil? 

I'm struggling to see the long-term benefits. Sounds more like the next Atlantis than the next Rome. 

Didn't Neves say his goal was Champions League? I suppose he didn't say which one. ACL can benefit. I wish the confederation crossover were earlier. Some Saudi vs J League games would be nice.

Last 24 hours has seen a big Saudi bid for Son. Serdar Azmoun has been approached too. 

Next one. Big offer for Ducksch from Bremen. Honestly, just go. Plenty of willing players to come through. He moaned his way out of Hannover and now gets a big pay day.

Is there some Saudi league plan to this or is it simply copy catting from Ronaldo? 

The Saudi People's Investment Fund (PIF) has a majority share in Newcastle, are an alleged shareholder in Clearlake Capital (owners of Chelsea) and own 4 clubs in the Saudi Pro League. 

The surplus to requirement players that don't work out at either of those Premier League clubs tend to get farmed out to the Saudi Clubs. 

The Saudi's are running a flywheel strategy which may or may not be ethical in the eyes of supporters but Footballing Authorities will inevitably turn a blind eye to it.  

There has to be SOMEWHERE for the influencers and youtubers to take selfies in front of mate :P

Yep, big "fire sale" at Chelsea a the moment..... Mendy, Koulibaly and Ziyech ..... fans also want to add Lukaku to that list . lol

Saudi clubs in the eventual Superleague? Or will they try and buy their way into the Champions League, the big clubs in Europe all just love money, as do UEFA, I don't think its impossible to see happening one day.