This Friday, August 11, the Roshn Saudi League begins, the professional football league of Saudi Arabia. Kick-off will be at 20:00, Spanish time, between the Al-Ahli and Al-Hazem teams. Until just over a year ago, this news would have gone unnoticed by the general European public. However, except for the heat (it will be played at 45 degrees in the shade) everything has changed. Over the last few months, more than fifty players from Europe and South America have arrived in this absolute monarchy that swims in oil for an approximate cost of 450 million euros, footballers who will earn a total of around 750 million euros in wages yearly
In the opening match, three old acquaintances will already be seen in action: the Brazilian Roberto Firmino (Liverpool), the Senegalese Edouard Mendy (Chelsea), both 31 years old, and the Algerian Ryad Mahrez (Manchester City), 32 years old. all three at an age that would allow them to continue their careers in Europe. The three have signed this summer for Al-Ahli, a team from Jeddah that, despite winning the League four times, has just been promoted to the First Division after playing in the Second Division last season.
The initial boom of this League was starred by Cristiano Ronaldo, the first to arrive, on December 30, 2022, when he left Manchester United and made his signing official for Al-Nassr, which he pays no less than 200 million per season. He was presented on January 3 and in February he was already elected the best player of the month.
After Cristiano, the next Ballon d’Or winner was Karim Benzema. Against all odds, when Madrid assumed they would renew, the French striker chose to leave Florentino Pérez at stake and signed for Al-Ittihad (the last League champion) with a contract of around 200 million euros gross for two seasons and another optional one, in addition to a bonus close to 20 million for being an ambassador for Arabia’s bid for the 2030 World Cup, a contest in which Spain and Portugal are also competing, now with the Morocco as a third country.
After Cristiano and Benzema, the gift of figures to Arabia has been constant: N’Golo Kanté, Kalidou Koulibaly, Marcelo Brozovic, Milinkovic Savic, Sadio Mané, Henderson and Fabinho are some of the most prominent names, all of them regulars in the champions Kessié will also play for Al-Ahli.
The technicians are not left behind. In the country there are coaches like Steven Gerrard, the Portuguese Jorge Jesus or the Croatian Slaven.
The four big teams that will a priori compete for the title are Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad. Since June 2023, all four have been owned by the PIF, a public investment fund of the country, which has a capital of 650,000 million euros.
This fund has been the entity that has promoted the recruitment of international stars to increase the relevance of the competition and give a better image to a country questioned for its traditional contempt for human rights.
