The Stars’ New Playground: How Saudi Arabia Buys Attention

The Saudi Pro League kicks off next weekend. In recent years, the kick-off in Saudi Arabia’s football league in Europe was not worth mentioning – now the Saudi royal family bought the international interest. The pioneer Cristiano Ronaldo, who became the first star in the desert in January, was joined this summer by Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane and coach Steven Gerrard, among others.

With endless financial resources and big names, Saudi Arabia wants to become a big player on the sports scene. According to estimates by the human rights organization Grant Liberty, the strictly conservative-governed kingdom has already poured 1.5 billion into sport.

In the winter, Ronaldo first drew the world’s attention to Saudi Arabia when he joined Al-Nassr. Ex-Salzburg Mane, Marcelo Brozovic and Seko Fofana also play for the club from the capital Riyadh. Al-Hilal is currently fishing for Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti and Atletico Madrid’s Joao Felix. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ruben Neves are already under contract with Al-Hilal.

Many were lured to Saudi Arabia by the Premier League, which was by no means badly positioned financially. Brazilian Fabinho joined Al-Ittihad from Liverpool last week, alongside Frenchmen Benzema and N’Golo Kante. The shopping spree also extended to Austria: Matthias Jaissle, Salzburg’s champion coach, allowed himself to be poached by Al-Ahli. The 35-year-old is now training Riyad Mahrez, current Champions League winner with Manchester City, Eduard Mendy (Chelsea) and Roberto Firmino (Liverpool) with the promoted team.

Public Investment Fund pays

Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Ahli are mostly funded by the royal family through the public investment fund established in 1971. The sport is intended to serve as a vehicle to polish the country’s image and distract attention from executions or the oppression of women. The big goal is to build the Saudi Pro League into one of the ten biggest leagues in the world.

“In my opinion, if they continue the work, the Saudi league can be among the top five leagues in the world in five years,” Ronaldo said in the spring and was smiled at for it. After the Saudis’ spending spree in recent weeks, which is far from over, it is clear that his statement was not a courtesy to his new financiers – but a serious threat to the top leagues in Europe.

The new stars in Saudi Arabia

Marco Verratti is set to become the next top player to move to Saudi Arabia. He has long been in agreement with Al-Hilal, Paris Saint-Germain the transfer fee of 45 million euros has so far been too little. The French demand at least 60 million euros.

The new stars and their replacements:

• 60.0 million euros: Malcom (Bra | 26 years)
  St. Petersburg (Rus) to Al-Hilal
• 55.0 million euros: Ruben Neves (Por | 26)
  Wolverhampton (Eng) to Al-Hilal
• 46.7 million euros: Fabinho (Bra | 29)
  Liverpool (Eng) to Ittihad Club
• 40.0 million euros: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (Sb | 28)
  Lazio Rome (Ita) to Al-Hilal
• 35.0 million euros: Riyad Mahrez (Alg | 32)
  Manchester City (Eng) to Al-Ahli
• 32 million euros: Sadio Mane (Sen | 31)
  Bayern Munich (D) to Al-Nassr
• 29.1 million euros: iota (Por | 24)
  Glasgow Celtic (Sco) to Ittihad Club
• 27.2 million euros: Allan Saint-Maximin (Wo | 26)
  Newcastle (Eng) to Al-Ahli
• 25.0 million euros: Seko Fofana (Civ | 28)
  Lens (Fra) to Al-Nassr
• 23.0 million euros: Kalidou Koulibaly (Sen | 32)
  Chelsea (Eng) to Al-Hilal
• 18.5 million euros: Edouard Mendy (Sen | 31)
  Chelsea (Eng) to Al-Ahli
• 18.0 million euros: Marcelo Brozovic (cro | 30)
  Inter Milan (Ita) to Al-Nassr
• 14.0 million euros: Jordan Henderson (Eng | 33)
  Liverpool (Eng) to Al-Ettifaq
• Free transfer: Karim Benzema (Wo | 35)
  Real Madrid (Esp) to Ittihad Club
• Free transfer: Roberto Firmino (Bra | 31)
  Liverpool (Eng) to Al-Ahli
• Free transfer: N’Golo Kante (Wo | 32)
  Chelsea (Eng) to Ittihad Club
• Free transfer: Moussa Dembele (Wo | 27)
  Lyon (Fra) to Al-Ettifaq