Football’s Arabian Nights a big hit of the season

Before the discussion shifts to Harry Kane’s possible move, whether Kai Havertz can bed in at Arsenal, Mason Mount at Manchester United and Ilkay Guendogan at Barcelona, Saudi Pro League has dominated the conversation around the summer transfer window. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is now part of football lexicon, not so much because of the acquisition of Newcastle but for the money it is investing in Al-Hilal, At-Ittihad, Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli that has got footballers young and old, past and present, to join Saudi Pro League.

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The league few talked about before Cristiano Ronaldo shifted to Al-Nassr is now paying megabuck salaries to players from top clubs. It is helping clubs balance books and begin a rebuild – Ruben Neves’ $59.8m switch to Al-Hilal was crucial to Wolverhampton Wanderers staying within financial fair play rules after they spent $221.55m last season and Chelsea earned close to $42m from the sale of Edouard Mendy (Al-Ahli) and Kalidou Koulibaly (Al Hilal).

None of this happened suddenly. The plan to privatise government-owned clubs in Saudi Arabia began in April 2016. That was when the kingdom released its Vision 2030 plan which aimed at, among other things, reducing dependence on oil and gas for revenue. It is imperative to do that in a country where, according to a Reuters report in May, the median age of the population is 29.

“This is a hugely vulnerable economy, especially in this age when we are kicking back against fossil fuel consumption,” said Simon Chadwick. An academic with over 25 years of experience in the world of sport, Chadwick is the professor of sport and geopolitical economy at SKEMA Business School.

Football is Saudi Arabia’s No.1 sport, the Saudi Pro League is ranked No.1 by the Asian Football Confederation in the west region (which also has India who are 10th); with four Asian Champions League titles Al-Hilal is the competition’s most successful club (they were runners-up to Urawa Red Diamonds last season), the national team has been to six World Cup finals between their first appearance in 1994 and the last in 2022 – they beat eventual champions Argentina in the group stage — and the Riyadh derby between Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr is used to seeing crowd in excess of 50,000. The foundation was there in terms of popularity, what changed was the strategic intent to generate revenue through privatisation, said Chadwick on Kicks For Free, the Hindustan Times football podcast.

“As part of economic transformation of Saudi Arabia, football is just one of the number of different things being invested in,” he said. And if this is sportswashing, well, Saudi Arabia is certainly not the first country to manage its image and reputation through sport. Think of the British in India and cricket and football, said Chadwick, who is British.

Sportswashing or not, what Chadwick is sure is that this is not “China”. Similarities between the football leagues end with both being countries not well established in the sport. Football is not the most popular sport in China, basketball is, and it has a lot to do with Yao Ming being in the NBA Hall of Fame. And China have played the World Cup once in 2002, losing all three games and failing to score a goal.

China attracted some big names to the Chinese Super League between 2015 and 2017. The league transfer record was repeatedly broken, once in two days when Alex Teixera signed for Jiangju Suning for €50m after Jackson Martinez moved to Guangzhou Evergrande for €42m. Covid-19 and the real estate bubble bursting – most of the top clubs were owned by property developers – contributed to China being far from the attractive market it was.

“The raw materials, the operating parameters in Saudi Arabia are much better defined than they were in China. Saudi Arabia understands football in the way China doesn’t and I am talking about governmental-level understanding that is born of decades of engaging with the sport,” said Chadwick, who co-founded University of Nottingham’s China Soccer Observatory.

But will there be a spike in interest and revenue in a sport where engagement and involvement with clubs takes time? A report in The Athletic said Saudi Pro league has asked IMG to look at international broadcast deals for the next two seasons.

Given that in terms of a global audience the league has a low base, Chadwick said he is sure of an increase in revenue. Calling it an interesting experiment, he pointed out that it took decades for English clubs to get to a position of eminence. “Saudi Arabia is trying to do that in years.”

The league was broadcast in India after Ronaldo joined and did “okay, on par with Bundesliga”, according to a media analyst. That games starting earlier than, say Champions League, and Ronaldo die-hards tuning in, helped, said the analyst requesting anonymity to protect relationships in the industry.

“Let’s see in 2030 if we are all supporting Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr. But perhaps Saudi Arabia is overestimating the power of its football and underestimating how deeply embedded we all are in our existing engagements with football. For me, the more realistic expectations is perhaps 2040 or 2050,” said Chadwick.

But for that to happen, the national team too needs to be successful. “One thing we have to look at carefully is if Saudi Arabia continues with its spending spree, at which point does it say we need to consider how we develop domestic talent,” said Chadwick.

Given the lack of economic incentive to move to Europe, that is a problem for most west Asian countries. UAE’s Omar Abdulrahman, called Messi of the Middle-East, sparked interest in Europe after a good show in the 2012 Olympics, but didn’t go abroad barring a brief spell in Saudi Arabia.

But what the arrivals of big names in Saudi Arabia could do is lead to a spike in interest in the Asian Champions League. Imagine Al-Ittihad playing Mumbai City FC.