Had no idea Emenalo was over in Saudi Arabia, IIRC he was Chelsea's DoF for a good while.
Saudi League thread
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Nik (@Rood), Jamie (@Vault Dweller) and Ed (@That'sHernandez) give their end of season awards out! They celebrate the best players, goals and moments of the season (there were some, honestly) and also give out awards for the worst and most disappointing players/moments of the season.
They then discuss all the latest transfer rumours and get into the potential ins and outs this summer at Old Trafford.
Had no idea Emenalo was over in Saudi Arabia, IIRC he was Chelsea's DoF for a good while.
Yes he was. A good appointment by the Saudi league.
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But unless they change the rules to play 11 foreign players, the average saudi player is still not competitive enough. There's still a lot of grass roots work to do.
After the discussion I had with some here a couple of weeks back, I'd like to know what do you say about some players having in their contracts payments for social media posts promoting saudi arabia. What a surprise, it's not just about football, but promoting saudi arabia...
They have too many teams. Can't have 18 teams full of Ronaldos. If they reduced it to like 8 teams they could probably have the strongest League in the world.
In other news, let's stop oil
In other news, let's stop oil
Otávio signs for for Al Nassr for 60M€ from Porto. Well, can't blame him because the alternative would be signing for Aston Villa 
Recently I happened to come across something very strange while looking at the Khaleej vs Al-Ahli lineup and wanting to examine the Khaleej players more closely on "Transfermarkt". I have noticed that almost the entire starting XI was signed in this transfer window and all were provided with ONLY 1 year contracts.
The only explanation I can come up with is that they're just there to get through this season before replacing them with top European players next season.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were other SPL clubs with similarly strange contracts alongside Khaleej.
Officially only 4 clubs belong to the PIF, but I believe that the others will also be massively upgraded.
See Gerrard and Henderson's Ettifaq. What normal clubs can afford such salaries? Henderson would be the top earner in Europe after Mbappe.
In the top 4, the squad is more or less in place. The 8 slots have all been used up. What do they want to improve there? Only al-Ittihad could make 1 or 2 more king transfers.
As I said last time, I believe that from next season the lower clubs will be taken care of. I think after 2-3 transfer windows the density of the league will far exceed that of the EPL.
The only explanation I can come up with is that they're just there to get through this season before replacing them with top European players next season.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were other SPL clubs with similarly strange contracts alongside Khaleej.
Officially only 4 clubs belong to the PIF, but I believe that the others will also be massively upgraded.
See Gerrard and Henderson's Ettifaq. What normal clubs can afford such salaries? Henderson would be the top earner in Europe after Mbappe.
In the top 4, the squad is more or less in place. The 8 slots have all been used up. What do they want to improve there? Only al-Ittihad could make 1 or 2 more king transfers.
As I said last time, I believe that from next season the lower clubs will be taken care of. I think after 2-3 transfer windows the density of the league will far exceed that of the EPL.
A few rumours today that Al Ittihad are in preliminary negotiations with Manchester United for Raphael Varane....
Do these players not feel any shame in taking money from mass murdering human rights oppressors seeing is the league is state funded by the same people
Most of the foreigners who were at the big Saudi clubs before this summer, are being moved to the smaller clubs on the same wages in order to honour the contract, to make room for the bigger signings. They are serious about the 8 foreigner quota.
Ask the player taking money from the same regimes in order to play for Chelsea (since 2003), N’Castle or Man City ?
Gabriel not in the team again tonight, and this may be why
https://x.com/eduardohagn/status/1693685394779349222?s=61
https://x.com/eduardohagn/status/1693685394779349222?s=61
I wonder how long it will take for the Saudi league to become the best league in the world, in terms of player quality?
It will never happen, they may get some of the best players in the world to play in the desert for money but football is also about history, rivalries and the fans. They may be able to have the pick of players but if they want to grow and play against historic European sides they will have to abide by rules and nobody will pick going to Saudi over a European team if/when the Saudi’s have some financial restraints put upon them.
Must have been a transfermarkt error. 5 of them were there before this season.
It’s pretty normal in Saudi though along with other Arab countries. There’s a pretty high turnover of foreigners. Khaleej are a small club. If they sign a foreign who’s good, he won’t be there long. A big club comes in for them pretty quickly. Likewise, if they’re not good, they’ll be dropped quickly as there’s a limit to how many foreigns they’re allowed.
Similar scenario with the locals. If the smaller clubs get good locals, they’ll be poached by the bigger Saudi clubs pretty quickly.
Also, Arab clubs are ruthless with the foreign slots. They’ll just remove players mid season from their squad to make space for a new signing. Happened loads over the last couple of years and it’ll probably get even more ruthless now if big names appear.
I think you’re right about the other clubs getting funding though. I have zero clue who is paying Ettifaq’s wages. It’s either money from PIF unofficially, or some extremely rich individual who is happy to pay Henderson £700k a week.
Aymeric Laporte off their for £25m if rumours are true.
The UEFA clubs remind me more and more of the NATO countries. Unfortunately just as hypocritical. Always raid and exploit smaller ones. But when someone else comes along and tries it on them, it's easy to panic, want to change the rules, and do whatever it takes to stop this "destruction." You think you're at war. The propaganda is also the same. Your losses are constantly being downplayed, while the enemy will never have a chance to succeed and will eventually collapse.
One should take it easy and accept that the Saudis have now entered the football market. And if they mean business (which they likely will at least until 2030), no league in the world will be able to stand in their way, let alone clubs.
The power of the petrodollar is tremendous. Even world powers orientate themselves on him. It has brought down some and has the potential to bring down more. Better not to declare war on them. That has already cost Barca their heads in the case of Verratti. And that was just PSG.
One should take it easy and accept that the Saudis have now entered the football market. And if they mean business (which they likely will at least until 2030), no league in the world will be able to stand in their way, let alone clubs.
The power of the petrodollar is tremendous. Even world powers orientate themselves on him. It has brought down some and has the potential to bring down more. Better not to declare war on them. That has already cost Barca their heads in the case of Verratti. And that was just PSG.
So... Al Ittihad spent 30M€ on Jota and they are considering releasing him on a free transfer because they want to hire a better foreign player 
So... Al Ittihad spent 30M€ on Jota and they are considering releasing him on a free transfer because they want to hire a better foreign player
It's been common practice in Asia for years to freeze out/banish foreign players due to the cap. Hilal have done it to a few mid season due to being able to sign better foreigns, it's something that has always happened and is normal for Asian leagues. This one is more ridiculous though because they paid a decent fee. I would imagine when they signed Jota, they didn't realise quite how many high level players they'd be able to attract. If Salah is a genuine option, they'd be stupid to not go for him because they have Jota.So... Al Ittihad spent 30M€ on Jota and they are considering releasing him on a free transfer because they want to hire a better foreign player
I know it's a common thing to release foreign players, it also happens in La Liga 1 and 2 in a smaller scale (it's the european league with more non-eu limitations). But the surprise here is that they had spent 30M and they will have to pay full contract wages to release him, which means he might get 50M (5 years contract, 10M per year). They will probably reach a midterm agreement though.
Money doesn‘t matter. If they want a new toy they just buy it.
They need a couple of seasons of getting the best players in the world under the age of 27 to play there. When the likes of Haaland, Mbappé, Vinicius, Kimmich and the like start leaving then it will have gotten serious,
"YES, BUT NO ONE WILL WATCH IT"!
A Saudi sports journalist on Twitter:
"The director of Saudi sports channels publishes for you the names of all international television channels that broadcast our league:
37 TV channels and platforms
750 million households in the world
162 countries around the world
These are shocking and frightening numbers that will soon increase." (Unfortunately I can't post the link to the TV program)
At the latest after it became known that Iran, the absolute arch-enemy of the Saudis, had bought the rights to the SPL, this doesn't surprise me.
Because if the biggest enemy is interested in the SPL, what about others?
Interesting: Israel, which is actually considered a semi-ally of the Saudis, had also expressed interest.
The Saudis said: "Not even for all the money in the world. As long as religious extremists are in the government!"
A Saudi sports journalist on Twitter:
"The director of Saudi sports channels publishes for you the names of all international television channels that broadcast our league:
37 TV channels and platforms
750 million households in the world
162 countries around the world
These are shocking and frightening numbers that will soon increase." (Unfortunately I can't post the link to the TV program)
At the latest after it became known that Iran, the absolute arch-enemy of the Saudis, had bought the rights to the SPL, this doesn't surprise me.
Because if the biggest enemy is interested in the SPL, what about others?
Interesting: Israel, which is actually considered a semi-ally of the Saudis, had also expressed interest.
The Saudis said: "Not even for all the money in the world. As long as religious extremists are in the government!"
I think the Saudi league is just another way of heading into “Super league” format with all the money involved. Surely if they keep spending the money, maybe in couple of seasons they will get majority of star player playing in their league. Things could change really quick.
Pity no one is watching it in Saudi Arabia itself. Average attendance of 5,300 this weekend. That's less than League 2.
I realise most people on here will be sensible enough to disregard the unsourced propaganda spewed over here, but in case anyone is curious to see a link, this is the original dodgy post by the 'Saudi sports journalist':
The tweet is in Arabic but translates word-for-word to what's posted above, and is the earliest version of the post anywhere on Twitter. For an idea of reliability of this source, the account's pinned post is a link to buy a discounted room freshener.
Meanwhile, reliable sources [The National, a UAE publication] writing on the SPL's TV deals show that the 23/24 season will be broadcast by 25 television platforms to 130 countries, a drop on last season's deals which saw the SPL air on 48 platforms across 170 countries.
Equally, an article published this morning by Bloomberg paints a more realistic picture of the SPL's viewership, noting that the average Saudi stadium attendance (as @VP remarks) is comically low, and that the total revenue from TV deals for the season is expected to be $2.8 million (compare that to the Premier League's $4 billion).
If it's being watched by 750 million households but only making $2.8m, then they're either getting an extremely poor deal, or the numbers are entirely made up. For reference, according to The Times, the Premier League is estimated to be watched by up to 900 million households.
It's likely that you'll continue to share exaggerated propaganda posts, but please at least add the link to the claims you're referencing so that those who wish to apply basic critical thought rather than regurgitating big numbers can do so.
I think they might be gone...
Oh great! They were genuinely harming the nuance of the conversation about the Saudi league with the fanboy approach so that is truly a good riddance.
How can there be a decline in television platforms when the SPL is now broadcast even in America and almost all countries in Europe?
That wasn't the case before. This is particularly proven by countries like Iran and Israel's interest.
I can't say how reliable your numbers are. But even if we say that the SPL has no TV income at all - I don't see a problem with that.
1. They don't depend on it at all. 2. There are certainly strategic reasons.
I don't know what it's like here, but in Germany, for example, Netflix and DAZN were initially free or for a few coins.
You used to be able to see everything on Sky. Then came DAZN. And you had to take out two subscriptions for all games and all goals.
It will be no different here. If you want to see all the games, all the stars of top football, you will soon have to subscribe to the Saudi League too.
You can twist and turn it however you want, but the fact is that the 250 best footballers in the world will soon be divided into SPL and UEFA.
We can ignore it, but this will cause massive damage to UEFA and will also have a major impact on its revenue.
As I said the other day, it's exactly the same game as golf. In the end you will be forced to work together.
Nobody seriously believes that things will work without the Saudis.
Edit: I have blocked the user "Acrobat". I don't have to put up with his constant insults, off-topics and taunts. If the admins don't want to do anything about it.
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Just read that Al-Hilal drew yesterday in the Asia CL against Namangan Navbahor, some Uzbekistan side 1:1 (scored in the 90+10th minute). Al-Hilal played with Neymar, Malcom, Mitrovic and Neves
Just read that Al-Hilal drew yesterday in the Asia CL against Namangan Navbahor, some Uzbekistan side 1:1 (scored in the 90+10th minute). Al-Hilal played with Neymar, Malcom, Mitrovic and Neves
Fun fact, Kanchelskis used to manage Navbahor.
So, Bloomberg, The Times, and The National must be questioned as possibly providing unreliable numbers, but an anonymous account on Twitter (that you didn't even provide a link to) should be accepted as gospel? You're free to take that approach but you should accept that people won't take your arguments seriously.
PL tv rights alone breached £10b last year, it was the first time the overseas rights (£5.3b) overtook the domestic rights (£5.1b). That should give you an idea of the scale of upside there is in football when you think of how small the domestic market is compared to a potential global audience.
They could have empty stadiums and it wouldn’t matter if they manage to attract the best players.
Just read that Al-Hilal drew yesterday in the Asia CL against Namangan Navbahor, some Uzbekistan side 1:1 (scored in the 90+10th minute). Al-Hilal played with Neymar, Malcom, Mitrovic and Neves
Love to see it
I don't see how this will be a long term success even if it does prove to be disruptive for a while. Comparing it with the LIV takeover of golf is apples and oranges. They're not making the golfers play most of their tourneys in Saudi Arabia, they just own and expanded the franchise. The weather doesn't support it, there's not enough crowds in their stadiums, good players will decline, and if anything the publicity will just highlight what's wrong there. Like the Neom city it's an ego project for MbS that's destined to fail. If they can't beat Namangan Navbahor with Neymar, Malcom, Mitrovic and Neves, they should just give up now. That being said UEFA should try something to limit the damage. For footballs sake
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@phenry
UEFA's flagship lost at home in the UCL against a Moldovan (!) team. With the best eleven! Luckily they didn't stop operations after that, otherwise they wouldn't have won the tournament in the end. I believe it would be in Europe's interest for the Saudi clubs to be successful. Otherwise UEFA will suffer the full frustration. Instead of the limited Mitrovic and Michael (who aren't actually bad) they want Osimhen and Salah.
There could soon be a threat of deflation in football. You will get a lot of money for the players. But at some point the time comes and the clubs sit there with their suitcases full of money and ask themselves “Wait a minute! Who should we actually get now”? And then the fight for Wood, Füllkrug and Origi begins.
Interesting: Jordan Henderson in the Saudi TV interview:
"Many players in Europe, especially from the England national team, have asked me about the Rushen League and Saudi Arabia,
and there may be players joining the Saudi League." Source: Twitter/TV-SSC/BH18
UEFA's flagship lost at home in the UCL against a Moldovan (!) team. With the best eleven! Luckily they didn't stop operations after that, otherwise they wouldn't have won the tournament in the end. I believe it would be in Europe's interest for the Saudi clubs to be successful. Otherwise UEFA will suffer the full frustration. Instead of the limited Mitrovic and Michael (who aren't actually bad) they want Osimhen and Salah.
There could soon be a threat of deflation in football. You will get a lot of money for the players. But at some point the time comes and the clubs sit there with their suitcases full of money and ask themselves “Wait a minute! Who should we actually get now”? And then the fight for Wood, Füllkrug and Origi begins.
Interesting: Jordan Henderson in the Saudi TV interview:
"Many players in Europe, especially from the England national team, have asked me about the Rushen League and Saudi Arabia,
and there may be players joining the Saudi League." Source: Twitter/TV-SSC/BH18
Incredible to see that full stadium to cheer for Neymar, Neves and Mitrovic in the Asia Champions League. My guess it will take less than 6 months for Neymar to get bored and ask to move to Barcelona.
Love to see it
Almost as if upsets never happen in football!
I'm sure he is already bored, but he will stay there because no one else will pay him 150m/y. My feeling is the game against that Uzbekistan side was just the beginning. They will see what it means if players only come for the money, not for the sport. If they start relaxing in training, if they don't care about the competition, all you have is their names, not the football you associate with their names.
Neymar has the skills to win you the game against such an opponent, like Messi does for Miami. But he just doesn't care, while Messi actually enjoys football again. That's the big difference.