Saudi Arabia signals interest in Uefa Champions League
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The Champions League trophy on the pitch of Ataturk Olympic Stadium, ahead of the UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul.
PHOTO: AFP
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RIYADH – Saudi Arabia is interested in discussions about joining Europe’s top football club competition, the Uefa Champions League, as the kingdom spends hundreds of millions of dollars to attract some of the world’s best players to its domestic league and shake up the sport.
“We are trying to be different, so any kind of format changing or improvements that can be introduced into the league will be welcomed,” said Carlo Nohra, the Saudi Pro League’s chief operating officer.
However, the Saudi Pro League is still “completely committed” to being in the AFC Champions League, which is Asia’s premier club competition, he insisted.
Any talks about Saudi teams joining Europe’s Champions League, he added, would probably be between its organiser, Uefa, and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation.
Uefa members include a few non-European countries, including Kazakhstan, whose clubs can participate in the Champions League.
On the rumours, European football’s governing body referred Bloomberg to comments in August by its chief of football Zvonimir Boban.
Responding to a report of a Saudi club joining the Champions League in 2025, he told Croatian newspaper Jutarnji List that it is a “fabrication”.
It remains to be seen what the future holds but ambitious Saudi teams have spent about US$650 million (S$882 million) in recent months recruiting players, including Karim Benzema from Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar Jordan Henderson from Liverpool.
The kingdom tried to attract Argentina’s Lionel Messi with a massive pay package, but he chose to join Inter Miami in the United States instead.
Recent reports have also said that Saudi club Al-Ittihad want to buy Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah, although Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has dismissed those links.
“We are doing whatever it takes to have those players coming to Saudi Arabia,” added Nohra, who previously worked for World Wrestling Entertainment.
“That doesn’t mean it’s an open-ended budget, but we cannot handcuff ourselves if we want to bring some of the best talents here. We’ve got to pay the going rates to bring them here.”
In terms of making money, the Saudi Pro League remains a minnow relative to the world’s top football leagues.
However, the purchase of such prominent players underscores Saudi’s grand ambitions as it looks to diversify from oil by making huge investments in everything from sports to new cities and electric cars.
The Saudi Pro League has also pushed hard in the past year to attract more sponsors and sign broadcast deals with international media companies.
Its games are now aired in around 140 countries, Nohra said, and broadcast revenue has increased 650 per cent since Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo joined from Manchester United late in 2022.
“They are not massive revenues to finance all the activities that we’ve got, but it’s certainly significant movement,” he said.
The Saudi Pro League’s growth is a long-term process and there is no set timeline for when it wants to break even.
“Driving the enterprise value of the league and the clubs is definitely at the heart of what we do. If that makes the clubs and the league an investible asset, then we would have achieved the objective,” Nohra added.
However, Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Paris’ Skema Business School, had a different view.
He said: “Saudi Arabia is up against the clock... they’re being exposed to oil-price fluctuations. They’ve got to move fast, they’ve got to move strategically, they’ve got to move effectively.” BLOOMBERG
