They think players outside Europe play in european clubs for love and not for the millions of euros they offer. I imagine the face of a Barcelona fan when he learns that Messi supports Newell's Old Boys and not Barcelona
@@fabiospfc yeah but you need to work on the academies, train the little kids in order to raise the level of the league. You can't just buy randomly 3/2 stars per team and the rest of the team is mediocre. It doesn't work like that
Maybe I will be proven wrong but I strongly believe this Saudi Arabia project is not sustainable with the way they are going about it, let's see time will tell
@oriplaydirty I wouldn't call it "hating." We saw Xi Jinping do the same thing with soccer/football in China, and it had the opposite effect. If I were a 17, 18 year old player, I'd want to spend my time developing by competing with the best players and teams, and more likely than not, those teams and players are in Europe.
The cost of sustaining a league with players like Ronaldo for 10 years is as expensive as the most luxurious public healthcare program. It is sustainable, but it's not sensible.
If European nations think they're being robbed by Saudi Arabia buying players, then it's absolutely a lie. Southern America was one most valuable stage for players back then but they have forgotten so soon how they brought the best players from other places, making their league standardized. Every continent will also experience this. It's my hopes that one day Africa will also have some of the best players playing in our league
Not true. There is a big difference between the clubs themselves buying players vs transfers being funded by a government directly. I hope Africa and North America where I live can have better talents playing here. But I want that money and investment to come from private citizens not the government.
These superstars that are moving are the ones I have seen while growing up. Even Messi moved to MLS. But that’s precisely what most people can’t separate when they say they’re afraid of the Saudi League taking big players. These big players are towards the end of their careers, and bright talent is taking center stage in Europe now. That’s how it always happens, players in their peak are still in the big leagues. The only sad part is there’s so many big names close to retirement age
Once the government moved their interest away from Football, the league will wither away. These oil countries are like the kids from the super rich, spending extravagantly on luxuries things.
I'm brazillian, and I was very worried when I heard about Neymar's transfer rumour. But now, seing how many good players they signed, in such a short term, makes me feel avenged for the great "Brazilian league" europeans deprived me of seeing.
But Saudi is nothing like great nations of England and Brazil, they have no human rights there or freedom of expression, their culture should not be promoted
Players go to Saudi for money and there's weird clauses in their contracts, like them getting extra pay for mentioning Saudi Arabia positively in a social media post. The ones that went to Europe, did so to play on the highest level.
@@Daggerwordano you said that wrong, England is nothing like the great nations of Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Their human rights record speaks for itself, also they don’t have a culture to promote.
I think there are similarities between the two, but the big difference is Europe buys young talented players to display top-tier matches. The middle east currently is buying players who pretty much already have names and are closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, which gives off the appearance of just trying to get attention even if that isn't the case.
This will no doubt appeal to players only after the largest possible payout in the short term. It's no surprise that Ronaldo, Benzema, and Konte, players near the end of their careers, are the headline signings to Saudi Arabian teams. These sorts of players used to go to MLS in the US, and maybe now they'll be funneled into Saudi Arabia instead. But ultimately, what drives most of the best players in any sport is the desire for competition and glory, and there's not much of that to be had in a mickey mouse league doubling as a PR vehicle. I think most of the fuss over these signings is drummed up by legitimately excited Saudi citizens and people who somehow forgot that the marquee signings are just trying to retire someplace warm.
- someplace warm ?? You obviously don't know what it's like to live in that region...... Most of the year you have to stay indoors with A/C on full blast.....
@@panchopuskas1 I'm from Arizona in the US. Trust me, I know what it's like in the desert. I was partly joking, but it's true that athletes often prefer to go to warmer climates as they age, because cold winters are especially tough on their worn-out joints. Ronaldo to Saudi Arabia, Messi to Miami, Zlatan to Los Angeles, and so on.
It makes no difference to European football. One or two bright players might ruin their careers for money like Oscar signing for Shanghai (Never played for Brazil again). But by in large spectators will flock to where the level of play is the highest (and that’s where the generation of wealth will be). The Saudi govt pouring in money to get retiring players to come to their league is most definitely not sustainable
If Saudi Pro League wants to get on the ladder, then it would be prudent to invest and entice the best youngest talent from South America and employ a training structure to structure to ensure good development. Europe has been fleecing South America since the turn of the century, KSA take note.
Yep, they are acting like MLS 1.0 and they should be copying MLS 3.0. Buy young talented prospects and flip them for profits, invest heavily in academies to bring up the local talent. Saudi just trying to short cut it. Didn't work in MLS, didnt work in China, wont work in Saudi.
But it's not always sunny for the Saudi Pro League as they had hit some roadblocks. Max Allegri and Jose Mourinho had rejected the Saudi's advances to coach in their league. Romelu Lukaku is adamant that Inter Milan is the only place he wants to be in despite numerous attempts by Chelsea to offload him to Saudi Arabia putting the player and club at odds. But perhaps the biggest L of them all (and one they refuse to let go) is when Lionel Messi rejected Al-Hilal's $400M per year offer to join Inter Miami and the MLS where he'd also receive percentage from the Apple+ subscription revenue and from Adidas shirt sales while having the opportunity to invest in a MLS franchise (be it existing or new). While many in the Internet were saying that Messi should've "taken the money" there's more than just the money that are factor - Messi's family just didn't want to move to a country that is known for its ultra-conservative Islam practices. Same with Lukaku - a practicing Roman Catholic. While a move to Saudi Arabia seems logical for the likes of Karim Benzema and N'golo Kante (who are practicing Muslims), it is not for others like Messi or Lukaku
Most Muslims players dont really practice the religion, they live in a wester way, they drink go to clubs etc, they just say these execused for their fans. They ate afraid they will lose theirt fanbase because fans what bring the players money
@@aliati8377nah man players like Salah,Mané,Dembele,Kante,Mahrez and Pogba are all devoted Muslims I can’t speak for Benzema if u know u know.😅 Ofc there are other Muslims who are very influenced and moved by the western culture but I would say most Muslim players are devoted to their religion
I'm not a fan of Ceferin, but he's right when he said that the Saudi league isn't sustainable. Tifo did a video on what happened to the Chinese Super League when Tevez, Pelle, Hulk, and others made the move to China. Coupled with unsustainable growth and the glaring lack of Champions League, the Saudi league is another ticking time bomb. Even with their blatant sportswashing, from buying Newcastle, LIV Golf, and the other sporting events, the Saudis can't hide from public opinion. The fact that Todd Boehly has Saudi investors in his venture capitalist firm is a huge conflict of interest in the Premier League, and this won't last. MLS did the same thing ten years ago. Pirlo, Gerrard, Lampard, and others all came to America and retired shortly thereafter. The ultimate problem with the Saudi league is Benzema, Ronaldo, Kante, and others going are injury-prone and over the hill. Even Ruben Neves at 26 is going to waste the rest of his best years playing quality below his level.
I agree with your assessment although I have to disagree on the MLS case. I can see the MLS is growing in terms of viewership as the US is an emerging market for football. Not to mention the US is also the largest economy in the World.
@@leonthethird7494 You see saudi or MLs will never be able to attract top young players like Halland or Mbappe thats why their viewership wont be as high as Europe and money will eventually dry but Saudi will gain relevance in football and maybe rights to host the wc but the league will never rival any top 5 league
Nope. Unlike Saudi Europe already had some of the best leagues itw and their nations had been succesful in world cups. When you also add far better economical situation in Europe it just made sense for players to go there.
A bunch of players are gonna get poached but beyond the infinite money they can throw at it, nobody outside of the Arab World would actually pay attention to the league. Like, one Ronaldo retires they don't have much to go for.
exactly and I don't see Ronaldo not leaving them once his contract is over and going to the MLS and getting a similar deal to messi. Messi is clearly the smarter one for long term gains here. He owns the freaking team. He had enough money in the first place, so did Ronaldo but you can't own anything in any of the Middle Eastern countries if you aren't from those countries. Defeats the point imo of wanting to start business there. Doing business, fine but building a business not a shot.
It’s like most fans would still prefer MLS over Saudi league if they had to watch one, even if MLS is considered a banter league by most. It’s also the ‘familiarity’ between fans and organisations, west to west. UEFA considered adding MLS to the UCL after Messi signed even though Saudi league has far more superstars now. Neither country rests in the European sphere but its clear which one UEFA favours.
I don't think much of the problem is a different league rivaling European football because every country should have a chance to improve their league, but more so the multiple human rights violations
@@yousufhossain9768 what did lgbt people do to you? Did your father touch you? Why do you hate people that has done you no harm? Human right violation includes more than lgbt, like how women must have a legal guardian, they are not seen as humans.
@@yousufhossain9768 It's that and the killing of apostates and "witches" and anti establishment reporters and journalists, you guys are still developing from a more authoritarian dictatorship style of ruling and running a country
yea except they wanted the World Cup. That was their ultimate goal but they were out bid by multiple countries. Which is should be like that anyway. No country can sustain the amount of ppl it takes and the pressure on the infrastructure and social tensions as a whole. Plus there are an exponential amount more ppl and ability to travel compared to before. Plus and I cant stress this enough, if you cannot have it in the summer, you shouldn't be hosting it. Screw you. Also no alcohol no bueno.
When European leagues take players from South America and Africa, they say it’s ok and call it an opportunity But when Saudi Arabia buys players from Europe, they complain and call it sportswashing. Pure hypocrisy.
Not hypocrisy. It's fact. Get that chip off your back. European Leagues are the best in the world with or without South American or African players. How much TV revenue does the Nigerian League generate?
TBH, I feel saudi might be the richest league but its all about the fans, They can buy players but not the fans. While many follow their fav players, Its doesn't mean they just quit supporting their club.
@@leonthethird7494 One of the most important reasons why Qatar bought PSG was the fact that it was the only professional club in a city of a population of 12 million. They didn't buy fans, they were already there.
@@ashtonalmond9024 yeah they will capture the middle east / islam market, as well as curious casuals, and people wanting to see what Ronaldo and whatnot are upto. But unlikely it will get close to the EPL. EPL gets viewers from over 190 countries, and numbers in the billions. Add all the Euro leagues together and it's even bigger. They won't have the CL either. The Euro leagues all work together in a way also, developing exciting youth players who feed into the various big leagues / top clubs across Europe. It's a giant network effect that goes on. Creating depth, competition and excitement. The KSA league won't have anything like that either.
Football culture is there and it’s not something new mate🤦🏽♂️. More the 80% of population plays/watches football in saudi. The least you can do is watch a game between Al-Hilal V Al-Ittihad or Al-Nassr and see how the fans go crazy
it’s just funny seeing premier league fans and pundits complain about saudi being able to spend so much to buy players from them but they have been spending ridiculous amounts for money for the past 5 years and doing the same to other leagues
@@killbot86 chinese league is different, lack of talent athough having massive population..at their peak, they didnt even win a match in world cup or having consistent winning score against asian team, saudi arabia already qualified for wc for 6th time.. and did have great reputation winning in asia, winning 3 asian cup title, only second to japan
@@Micfri300 different continent, how on earth a team from asia to play in eufa?..saudi planning on better world cup appearance...this is one way as their player rarely playing outside their country. current local player did a good job in qatar wc. WC is the greatest, not eufa competition
no they can take all of the old players, I'd rather them go to the MLS but w/e. They are essentially (with the help of Chelsea) syphoning money into the EPL and the new era of players.
@@Honorbound43 they can have any of the players. I rather watch my local plumber play for my club then watch that league. The majority of people I know are turning more and more towards grass roots football anyway, my self included. Not the best talent but it’s some of the best football you can watch.
@@soko3900 I doubt that I’ll stick with madrid especially with our new youth squad perfect transition from one generation to the next. And next to these oil clubs I feel like the underdog but also still the kings. Hala madrid y nada mas! Been watching since 2002. But yea I hope the smaller teams get a resurgence. Like I love that serie a is coming back. We need more of that. Bundesliga is broken imo
The true test will be if people from overseas actually start watching, and I don’t think that will happen purely because some big players go there. The premier league has never been popular because of its big names, its popularity has endured due to the high quality of its play and long and rich history of its teams. Ditto for Serie A and La Liga. The MLS has a long history of signing marquee European players, but it hasn’t taken over the global market because the quality of play hasn’t improved to European standards and the teams don’t have the established identity. Perhaps this attempt to disrupt football will be more successful than the Chinese Super League, but honestly I struggle to see it truly challenging the big European leagues
I like your observation, but one more factor why the PL is most watched is due to the impact of its colonial history. Many countries around the world have a basic understanding of English and were once an English colony, giving English football an early and long headstart from way back. England don't even need to win any more World Cups to gain more following from non-World Cup countries. The Saudis could take the CSL's failure as a lesson, but I feel 2030 is too close to have any meaningful impact with grassroots football. If they can actually raise the base levels, then maybe I'd start watching. I still don't watch the MLS or women's football despite so much noise and exposure from the media.
What I think most westerners in here don't understand is that the target audience doesn't necessarily have to be from Europe and the US. Do you realise the arab world accounts for more than 400M people?! And though I'm also against some principles of the Saudi League, but it is actually attracting so many new viewers, portugese fans seem to also enjoy the signing of Neves, you got huge numbers in the Indonesians and Malaysians that follow the league too, and this is just today in 2023, people keep saying their investment is 'unsustainable' but what everyone keeps missing is that they have INFINITE money like literally with the oil prices and the increasing demand in upcoming years, so they won't have any issue in splashing money until 2030 where it might become a "standard" league that people occasionally watch, and that arabs fully or partialyl follow too. Chinese economy was always too sketchy while you have Qatar or even Kuwait that could be doing the same but haven't yet, and they're not collapsing anytime soon either. Also isn't it ironic that most of Africa and Asia watches the PL because they got colonised and divided by the British and then adopted their language, but that's normal right haha?
@@idrissbelmejdoub6632 I believe it's the very fact that these Westerners know, some burying it in the deepest depths of their subconsciousness, that they are where they are today because of colonisation and whatever washing their forefathers once did, that they are so afraid of others now doing exactly the same to compete with them today.
@idrissbelmejdoub6632 the man wanted to improve his countries image so that he would get better deals with the democratic countries because dictators and many other coorupt governments can just do trade deals with him without worrying pver the public opinion of their people.
@@soso_imas China tried it and didn’t work. Having infinite money in Arabia might do the trick but the real development starts from something as basic as promoting sports at schools.
Almost all recruits this far are too old for it to be anything we haven’t seen already but a couple things could lead to believe this thing could become more than a Chinese league 2.0 or a new NASL for those who remember: 1. A few recruits have been quite young players that main european clubs wanted 2. The business doesn’t need to work, the government directly funding the clubs, no ffp in asia, so we are unlikely to see another NASL situation 3. The number of clubs is perhaps the best choice made this far, not too many, but fewer would create an inbalanced league like bundesliga 4. A new club world cup, with 32 clubs participating and being held every 4 years is starting in 2025, so these clubs will probably get to play UEFA clubs pretty soon on a big stage, if this is a success, this may lead to more people watching the league 5. Saudi pro league is already a pretty successful league (in asia), its clubs going far or winning the asian champions league pretty often
@@teamdauntlessreal I want Saudi to do well as I hate Europes continued dominance in football but unfortunately I feel like this will end up like the Chinese Super League bro
@@vb2388ont rule out Saudi buying their way to gaining Champions League spots, especially if the teams become competitive against the too European clubs
Al hilal is already the club with most asian championships alongside Urawa red diamonds from japan and thats before all the superstars so it will be difficult to compete with the saudi's. Unlike china saudi arabia already has a good league with good local players that challenge for the champions league yearly without superstars.
People comparing the saudi and chinese league forget three things: 1) Football is the #1 sport in KSA, unlike in China 2) The saudi league was already one of the strongest in Asia 3) The Qatar WC made it more acceptable to come to the region, and KSA plans to host the Asian cup 2027. The project isn't sustainable as it is, but the PR and marketing can make up for it. Also, asia as a whole benefits with the Asian champions league attracting more crowds in China and india for example. Is the project sustainable? Who knows, if some of money generated from sales and publicity is poured into the youth sector and academy it could be a good step.
@@h0ndesohn708 i mean you're right there, like there's couple of key points that can be taken here why Japan really loves football/soccer. Urawa Red Dragons is pretty much the AFC Champions, there are also multiple japanese players coming to Europe (Kaoru Mitoma, Hidetoshi Nakata, Wataru Endo, Shunsuke Nakamura, and couple more) compared to Korea (Son Heung min and Park Ji Sung is the only 2 I know of) or Chinese (none from what I know). Not to mention Japan's football Animes pretty much hyped it up even further.
@@mineshaft12 Zidane, Mbappe, Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka, Neymar, Iniesta, Torres and Aguero all said they were influenced by captain tsubasa 😭 japan also have their 100 year plan, the second most professional clubs itw, and a squad capable of beating anyone on a good day. Japan is worlds ahead of korea, china and saudi arabia
@@cutecat1764 ...or not... Bernardo is a player in his prime, and could possibly walk into any top European starting 11... if he were to choose the Saudi League over staying in Europe then it's a turning point. No longer can anyone say it's just players nearing retirement going to Saudi for one last big pay day. It'll mean oil money wins and football loses.
@@majormononoke8958 you're missing the point, regardless of how big Messi is... he's coming to the end of his career, and if he had gone to Saudi Arabia it'll just be seen as an opportunity for a big pay day before retiring. Him and Bernardo are 2 completely different situations.
When Saudi Arabia buys football player then its disturbing the sport, but when the British clubs did the same and bought the football players from the Italian league (which was the best that time) they did nothing wrong? Hypocrisy!!
It isn't that they are buying players, it is they are using this to try to gloss over the terrible way they treat their citizens, and the rest of the world.
A lot of hype about 4 teams who can afford to sign big names to attract broadcast deals, sponsorships and shirt deals. That's the business model. Their target audience is Asia, middle east and the muslim world. The PIF will make money, but where's the Saudi football fan culture? It barely exists outside the big 4. No Ronaldo, no crowds. You can't build a proper competitive league without a built-in fan culture who will attend the games with or without the big names playing.
I find it hilarious how the English media call this sports Washing when throwing money around to get the best is exactly what the premier league has done with african players for decades 😂
Clearly as you are uneducated so I will happily explain as a Saudi NATIONAL. The Premier League has built itself to be the best league in world football over multiple decades whereas the Saudi league is trying to buy the success overnight. I’m happy that my country is investing in sports but there needs to be more investment in grassroots football and homegrown players like in the UK, Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain etc. If the Saudi league keeps on buying foreign superstars then we will just be like China a couple years ago. Once the players retire, the league will revert to how it was a pre Ronaldo. I’m sure if your car broke down tomorrow you’ll blame the West! Get a grip and look at things a different way. Go read a book and improve your critical thinking.
sports washing isnt just "throwing money around". its a way in which governments and other organisations can improve their image on the world stage. this is what saudi arabia wants at the end of the day - to be taken seriously by global governments and individuals around the world especially in the west, so it is trying to change public perception of the country through sportwashing.
With the Saudi Pro League, I got the idea they are making up for lost time. The Saudi Pro League was an idea started up in 1993 when Saudi Arabia Qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup to help find players for the National Team.
If you’re from South America, this is what MLS is hoping it can you, you jump to a club in the MLS, get some experience and exposure and then make the leap over to a European team. Look at Almiron and Newcastle
@@PC-sq3zq chinese didn't follow their own league when they tried this, don't think they will start following the saudi league. also: the only way to become a superstar in football is to play for european top clubs, that won't change in the foreseeable future. it ight take decades to build a reputation like the top legues in europe have and i doubt oil money will be there long enough, one day they will need the money elsewhere and it's over. the markets that care for the saudi league are arab countries and possibly africa, economically that isn't sustainable. and they will realize that their sportswashing attempts are not really working that well, prior to qatar hosting the world cup barely anyone cared for human rights abuses in that country, people only started noticing when it was announced that they wold host the WC. and in case you think that is only a problem regarding their relations to the west: why would you even need sportswashing for countries that don't care anyway?
Even if they sign World Class Players, it wouldn’t mean they are a World Class League.. EPL will still be the Best League in the World for a long time for the reputation and legacy the clubs have… not to mention Saudi doesn’t play in UCL..
That’s the unfortunate thing. It’s almost like Europe intentionally pushes other leagues down. Leagues outside of Europe never have a chance to shine properly. I hope Saudi can change this but I doubt it
Saudi league only got its popularity when ronaldo signed for Al-Nasser. Even if the saudi league is bringing in quality players from europe, the brand of football and the quality of football is no way near that of european football. Yes, football is for everyone and not just europe, but just consider that most players that are currently joining the saudi league are either entering their mid 30s or are even above 35, players who are injury prone and would not be bought by any european club because of that, or players who just want huge sums of money because most european clubs can’t afford to offer such ludicrous contracts. They may be signing young players as well but those young players need better competition to develop as a player. While their vision is great, their vision is not sustainable.
It signs up players at the end of their careers, and the native saudi players will get no publicity. It's an entertainment package without any real foundation.
It's a bit rich of Ceferin to come out and say that they "shouldn't be signing players from Europe, they should focus on developing their own." As if European football isn't the destination for literally every other continent. It would be great to have more competitive leagues all across the globe, but there's definitely concerns with certain regimes using football for sports washing
I totally agree and have been saying for a long time that this form of growing a league isnt sustainable. But conversely, how else does a country grow their league. Is it to say that unless you are already a European team or in the champions league, youre destined to be a globally minor league? Surely football cant be contained within the confines of Europe?
Unfortunately for everyone else, Europe figured out how to capitalize on young talent before everyone else did. They now have a deep and extensive culture of skilled football known for being the best. They have all of the glory every that generation of players want because of the history. Saudi Arabia won't obtain this by simply buying retiring super stars. This will be like a dim-lit fire waiting to burn out once these guys are done. They need to capitalize on young talent and build them into superstars to incentivize newer generations to play for their country's clubs instead of just hoping that the European contract arrives. A lot of clubs make money by selling young talent to Europe and probably don't get too invested in their players personally, it's just business unfortunately. However this is just the sad reality of getting there first, and now every other region of the world has to follow behind. I'm not sure that it will ever change at this point, simply by the nature of it.
@@zharth. I agree with everything you’ve said except how you’ve framed the first sentence: that Europe “figured it out”. That makes it seem as if it was due to their own competence when in reality it was due to global imbalances (which I hope I don’t need to explain) that meant they had/still have a monopoly on the money required to grow their sport beyond their competition. But yes I agree with everything else you’ve said following after their initial advantage.
@@Teezy561 Yeah I agree, I didn't really mean that as in Europe was the first to think of doing this. They just had the resources and took the advantage before others could. It's similar to how America dominates the internet. Other countries have their own versions of social media, but it's hardly ever going to compete with the American media.
La Liga model is not sustainable either lol Barcelona have had to sell off future revenue to stay afloat. I imagine they hoping to invest massively to scale it back overtime this is nothing new in capitalism Amazon, Sony PlayStation, Disney+, Uber all have done this run at a loss until you gain marketshare Tbh it's smarter to do 4 teams like Saudi are doing than like French league where u just have 1 team that outweighs all the other by a country mile. It's the competition across the board that made the Premier League the most watched League in the world.
It's not different then European teams then,no one forced them to go to Saudi Arabia, they offer a good contract, and its their choice to accept or reject it ,simple ,no one stole their player lol
What happened in China was different, they wanted to attract people toward football and clearly they failed, but what is happening in Saudi is totally different, because football is already the most popular sport in the country. Since we have cash what we need basically is good management. The Prem started by attracting stars from Italy by paying them more😂, so you should know that sport is all about cash and management
Whatever Saudi is doing, they are doing right. The monopoly over football by European clubs need to be destroyed. They can't tolerate any success of any other Nations.
Saudi Arabia: "Yeah, we still needlessly torture people to death and don't care about our own women, but hey, we have Cristiano and Benzema now! We're not that bad"
They think that Ronaldo will bring the Saudi League more exposure. What is happening in practice is that the Saudi League is bringing about Ronaldo's obscurity. Out of sight out of mind.
you don know that the western world only equates to 35% 0f the world population and since they have unlimited wealth in trillions not including the trillions of American debt they hold, once they throw enough money at it, they'll eventually succeed and remember 70% of the worlds population actually hates the west.
I feel a regional (it can parallely exist alongside AFC CL) consolidated league among the Middle Eastern countries rather than domestic league will be more popular as it will draw more coverage and more competition.
Fan travel in a highly polarized region is impossible due to visa restrictions and hostility against visiting teams would be so common because every country is basically on each others throats. If it could've been done, pretty sure balkans would've done it by now.
It’s going to compete more with MLS in America than European clubs. Aging players will certainly make more money in Saudi. As long as the contracts are honoured.
As we look by revenue generated purely based on broadcasting, it's not even close. It's just government funded league. Atleast MLS isn't government funded.
But that can change very quickly with funding like this and the players moving there. Saudi Arabia is the only government that can fund this and if they can do so for 5 years and make it commercially sustainable on its own through advertising during those 5 years, it will work
@@thunderapple5368 first of all I never said I wanted to watch it so stop with the passive aggressiveness. I’m just saying what they’re trying to do and that they do have the money to do it. And secondly many people will watch even if you don’t care mate. No player outside La liga has won the ballon dor in about 15 years so you saying serie a, the Orem, the budeslgia etc etc are bad as well? Likewise there are lots of clubs who are massive but haven’t won the ucl in decades if ever, so another irrelevant point. And plus if the Saudi league did become a big big deal the club World Cup or some super cup will just become as or nearly prestigious as the ucl anyway
I don't watch football to see stars, i watch it to be a part of a community, I'm sure I'm not the majority but I'm more likely to watch my local team in division three than tune in to watch the saudi league even if they took the all the best players.
@mosaabtwice3999 cool story. I’m referring to the fact that football in Europe and particularly the uk where it was invented was built up over around 150 years, largely thanks to local supporters. This is what made football the special game it is. But in recent years we’ve had people from places like the Middle East watching it on tv and posting on social media calling themselves fans without any appreciation for any of this. They wouldn’t be following it at all if it weren’t for Europeans organically developing the game and its teams (and South Americans, though they don’t have the same kind of plastic international fanbase). So what these plastic fans are now doing is trying to buy what they see on tv and bring it to their own countries. But they will never be able to buy essence of what makes football the special game it is. They just don’t understand the kind of thing @deanrtaylor is saying, will never be able to truly understand a local derby, and largely only care about big names.
i'm not a fan of saudi league. however, aside of political and economical reasons of Saudi government, what they are doing in football is totally LEGIT. if you claim Saudis are disrupting football, i want you to remember chelsea, city, psg and or other "rich" clubs that can easily buy A tier players from smaller clubs or from brazil-argentina. sorry to say this but this is totally two-face approach.
Those going to Saudi are not unlike those who went to the MLS, Turkey and the like - not every player will win trophies or experience anything gloriously close to it. Most of these players, like many fans around the world, come from middle to very poor background and they have to choose between trying for something that may never happen to many (winning trophies and individual accolades), or accrue more than enough money during a short career life in order to retire comfortably. Waste of good years like Oscar and Neves? Their family will not feel so. It's easy to sit on a moral high horse chastising players for "supporting sportswashing" - you're not the one with the opportunity to earn as much millions as you can within 10-15 years before the industry boots you out, with little education or skills to prepare you for life afterwards. I'm pretty sure most of those who are sitting so are mostly English or Europeans where their countries are among the top leagues - if you came from dirt houses in Africa or the favelas in Brazil, you just want to strive for the best life you can give your family and yourself by simply playing football. As for the unpaid salaries - I believe you need to also look at Wigan, Bolton, Sheff Wed, Inter and several women's national teams before thinking it's an exclusively Saudi/China/Turkey problem. Simply put, I call this the white man grand delusion. You want to think these problems don't apply to your world, but it does. Funnily, these people yap about "human rights" but they attack the rights of players to choose wherever it pleases them to go to. Whether the Saudi league will implode like CSL remains to be seen. One clear nuanced difference is that the Chinese don't take football as the number one sport, while it certainly is in the middle east. The most important thing the CSL neglected was to work on grassroots football for sustenance. You can only throw so much money to solve problems.
nobody is going to criticize some player they never heard of for going to saudi. But for world class players playing in the top 5 leagues and who are famous enough to get invited by saudi clubs, their wages aren't that low that they need to go to the middle east to survive. someone like neves, who is by no means a superstar is taking home like 4 mil per year, he's not starving in the streets, and him throwing a potentially stellar career for more money than he needs is something that, in my opinion, warrants criticism
@@dokjastopsimp2370 you just proved my point by being way off the mark on this - nobody ANYWHERE with big money wants a player nobody ever heard of. You think Chelsea or City are gonna pay the same amount for a player no one's heard of? So what if he had 4mil at Wolves? He decides that he wants to triple his wages at Saudi, so be it. If he can stretch that over 5 years, he's making 40mil more than at Wolves, potentially at lower taxes. He's only gonna be paid to kick a ball for another 10 years tops, and it's his career to decide what's important to his family and his life before he retires. Throw away? For all we know he could be planning to use that money to build businesses in Portugal that allows him to live comfortably past his 30s. Just admit that you don't like it not being a Western destination. Rather hypocritical that people shout about human rights so-and-so but they attack the rights of a player like Neves to choose wherever he pleases to go to.
@@sususegar I'm not attacking the right for him to do so. he has the right to go play wherever and I have the right to point out the the sportswashing of Saudi Arabia is reaching a worrying degree and to say my opinion that he's throwing away his potential as a player by moving to a less competitive league. Also, live comfortably? I don't think you have any idea how much 4 million dollars are. You can live in luxury and allow your children to do the same by playing for that wage for 3-4 years and doing a few average investments
@@sususegarYou are completly delusional for comparing actual human rights violations with criticism of a players decision where he wants to play football. You know that Ruben Neves does not die or face any serious issues because some people in europe don't agree with his decision. I am obviously not saying that Saudi Arabia is the only place in the world with human rights violations, but it is a big problem and needs to be pointet out. The brain rot you must have experienced to put these to things in the same category is insane. "Yeah people die in Saudi Arabia but I don't like that you criticize a player for his decision." You know that Ruben Neves is just as free to go wherever as anybody is too criticize his move. Everybody can clearly see your hate for white people and europe in your comments. What a sad human being.
I agree with you on the "white man's moral high ground" accusation of the detractors of the Pro league about sports washing by throwing money at the thing and see what works. Many of the historic European teams grew and thrived because of money. The Premier League exists because of money. Chelsea was created because the original owner of Stamford bridge couldn't find a football team to play in it so he just made one. For Sports to succeed, it takes many factors to work out. Money is important but, it's not the end all be all of it as has been proven repeatedly. There's many unsaid factors that work behind the scenes. RB Leipzig probably had the winning formula in a vault in Saxony somewhere and they're not sharing. I disagree that human rights complaints should be ignored. They shouldn't. How the Saudi government and others Petrorich regimes treats women and dissenters and immigrants shouldn't be accepted or ignored and those of us that live in such countries where it isn't....all we have to deal with is a culture war. I prefer a culture war to that any day. Hipocrisy is no excuse for any of it. One just has their own mirror image to look at instead of just outsiders
Thing is, monetary power and level of play go together to an extent. Let’s be honest, one of the reasons why European club football has the highest level is also because their clubs have enough money to attract talent. Players from Africa, South America etc go play in Europe mostly because they are way better payed there, so the Saudi approach could work if the money keeps flowing.
@@nightking8490 listen my friend, im a culé myself, and we all know that Barcelona as one of the greatest football team will longtime prestige and heritage is in a financial crisis right now. With a huge financial deficit and debt, Barcelona should cut the salary, lost Messi, and couldn't register some of new players, and they are ended up with underperformed and knocked in every group stage of CL by year to year. While on the other hand, club with financial stabilities like Real Madrid and Bayern München could keep their glorious day, with some newcomers like Man City, PSG, Chelsea, and Newcastle United are going better by acquire better player with proper and sustainable salary, with huge financial support from their ultra-rich owners. So yeah you can't deny the importance of money. If Saudi Arabia wants to build their football by this way, it's up to them. Either it will be successful or ended up with failure is their business, as Europe will always be the "birthplace" of modern football.
Some People still think that players are going to saudi because of Ronaldo😂😂. It is because of the MONEY! Why didn't players go to Serie A when he moved to Juventus in 2018? With that said, Saudi Will for sure take over football. No player moves to a foreign country with diffrent languages, cultures and weather leaving his friends and family just because they 'Love' the game, it is mostly because they can earn better. And If saudi can offer better salaries for doing the exact same thing, then a rational person will take it, just like in any other job.
They can't take over football when most of the players they're signing are retiring in about 2 or 3 years. Younger players will always want to play in Europe.
@@haywoodjblome4768 If you're asked to name some of the best midfielders in the Premier league alone, nobody ever thinks of Ruben Neves. He's literally average 💀
@haywoodjblome4768 Like you said, they're broke so Barca wanted him because he was a cheap alternative that would be available on the market. If they had money they wouldn't entertain the idea of signing him because there are so many other better players
The Saudi League is very strong from before the existence of these deals. They have wonderful stadiums, wonderful flags, and a different atmosphere. Saudi Arabia is very large, and every city has a different atmosphere.
Let me summarize this video for you: 1- Saudi Arabia is attracting best players and I am jealous because it should be only England and that’s our right. 2- to distract the audience I speak about stereotype Saudi human rights while we violate it too but who cares. 3- Players go to Saudi for money while they come to the premier league for love and competition not for money while we are the highest ever payer and solely responsible for football inflation. Hypocrisy To elite level
Saudi Arabia is in the process of establishing a tournament called the Super League, similar to Perez’s idea. It will include the top European clubs in addition to Saudi clubs, and its returns will be great.
@@squidguard1 no chance. Right now the most they have is 2-3 foreign players all past their primes playing in a non competitive league against teams without foreign players. If they ever get enough foreign players (and top managers) to compete, there will be no Saudi players left
@@truenoae8689 isn’t that what the English teams did? How many English players are in top 6? Even mid table teams are filled with foreign players. Football is growing in Saudi, they have the funds. They beat the World Cup winners last World Cup. Saudi could probably win silverware before England ever does lol
@@squidguard1 all teams have foreign players but EPL teams still have lots of English players, La Liga teams have lots of spanish players, Bundesliga with German players and so on. Beating Argentina was a fluke it doesnt mean Saudi Arabia is better lol. The league will have to decide if it wants to be a league filled with foreign talent (probably close to retirement) or a league to develop Saudi players. But it won't be both
If Saudi Arabia focuses not only on improving their domestic league, but in gaining an uncontested top dog position in the Arab world, the league could make it big, there's a potential pool of 450 million viewers and that's without arabs living abroad. If the Saudi league monopolizes arab football fans the league will be sustainable I beleive.
@@dgh6g33gf mostly pirated tv channels watching it online, there's many arabic players that played in Saudi League from different countries so their fellow country men watch their players and plus same language, kind of like south America and Argentina and brazil league its watched by almost all south American ppl esp Derby's and big games, minus the fact that Brazil speak Portuguese not Spanish. Most arabs admit publically on their channels that the Saudis league is 1st in arab world and some of them make similarity with prem in Europe obviously not even close to prem quality but they mean its the premier League of Arabs.
I mean it's nice we have variation and bring the competition away from Europe once in a while, but the amount of human rights violations they have in recent decades is a bit worrisome
They want to do all the PR before Oil dries up! Not a bad thing or I'm against it. They are having the money, they are spending it for their PR! I really wish they improve conditions as well.
Well, they are running out of time. Oil if it isn't finishing , will be used less and less. Saudi approach is wrong. They are not developing their own Talents there but instead relying on greedy players coming there to end their career from Europe.
Europe has been doing this to South America for decades but once the saudis do it to them it’s a problem? Most professional players don’t play for the team they necessarily supported as a kid, they choose the money that can give their family and close ones a better life. A lot of Europeans are calling it greed, but I’d call it selfless.
this will be a flash in the pan with a few players getting very rich! i will enjoy seeing mbappe or haaland go to saudi in 7 years for a billion dollars a season , just to remind the world that Saudi Arabia has a football league
I am reminded of that interview TIFO did with that reporter who pointed out that once people are inside the stadium, they can't be controlled! Could be that this move will lead to a Football Utlra led revolution
There is no way anyone would prefer to live there if they had the choice. Once Saudi money dries up the entire nation returns to what is was before, the sports players go home
They can buy Newcastle and turn it into a PL winning, even CL winning team in time and with ALOT of money and creative accounting to get that money into the club, but they will do it. They can buy a world cup if they really want one, it will cost ALOT of money but Qatar did it and Saudi probably has better (not good, but better) foundations to host one than Qatar anyway. But growing their own leagues popularity by buying a bunch of players coming to the end of illustrious careers. If it didn't really work for the MLS and it didn't really work for China I don't see why it would work for Saudi.
True. Saudi is another retirement league just with more money. How can they even keep with Europe? A player would rather establish himself in Europe than to waste his prime in desert.
probably because unlike the examples you have provided, they actually have unlimited amounts of money, trillions of pounds worth of oil and gas in order to see all the diversification and development through
Agreed, they’re copying a concept that didn’t work for the MLS and was a disaster for China, because like you said, once Ronaldo leaves/retires, who really cares about Al Nassr? Certainly not anyone in Europe or Asia, perhaps only people in a few countries in the Middle East. Players come and go, but the clubs are there to stay. It’s the CLUBS that fans love, particularly in the Premier League, where they’re relentlessly battling it out for ‘silverware’, or to avoid relegation, playing football at breakneck speed, while the fans go berserk and threaten to attack each other if their team loses! It makes for amazing entertainment and is surely the most popular sports competition in the world. Even established leagues like Bundesliga can’t match the premier league, so how on earth can China and Saudi replicate it? They can’t. It’s a massive waste of money actually.
@@alex6677 China only failed because the government changed the laws as they didn't want the money to leave the country. Wasting money is subjective. if you buy a car for 400 per month on a lease instead of buying a second hand one, much cheaper, that's wasting money, so it's really up to the Saudi's what they want to do with their unlimited cash and I find it ironic that our countries in the west suddenly has become conscious about wasting money when we have been doing it for decades so this whole wasting nonsense and other reasons is nothing but deep rooted islamophobia and jealousy that an Islamic country with unlimited amount of wealth are going to diversify its own country at the expense of other countries in the west who can't afford to do so. They aren't trying to beat the premier league as they are trying to make the Saudi league one of the top ten leagues in the world and since England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Scotland, France are in the top 10, their aim is very easy to achieve as other leagues are rubbish. The Saudi League has been around since the 70's and since the countries demographic is much younger now in comparison to the 70's and are football crazy and with the creation of the football academy to increase and get better middle eastern players since 2006, it will take time and the attracting of talent even though old and the world cup in Qatar has strengthened the Saudi belief that they can succeed. I was at Qatar for the world cup and can say that it was the best ever organised in the history of the sport and with Morocco going to the semi's where every middle eastern and african country supporting them, which doesn't happen here in the west, proved that the middle east football is growing and will get better with time, in fact, i remember when people started to complain about african players leaving for the african nations cup years ago calling the competition pointless never estimated how good the competition would get and it gotten much better and the same will happen for Saudi regardless who plays for them, in fact the Saudi's along with the American's will accelerate the Super League plan and it's only a matter of time when that happens because in the end, it's how much money your willing to throw at a problem will solve it and Saudi's have pretty much have unlimited mounts of it.
Lionel Messi is Saudi Arabia's official ambassador since 2022, and his job is to promote the country, officially. For that, he receives 33 m salary, according to Forbes and Bussiness Insider. He is part of the promotion campaign for the 2030 World Cup. Where is your video about that? I'm waiting. Messi going to Saudi to carry out his commitments as a Saudi ambassador instead of going to training was a reason PSG suspended Messi if you remember. The difference is, Cristiano was hounded out of Europe by a hate campaign and this was the only offer when he still could play regularly, and since he still wants to play in the national team, he took it. For Cristiano, it was a career necessity, for Messi is money. that's the difference. But ofc no media is talking about it. Google the Guardian, Forbes, and other articles about it: The Guardian: 'Lionel Messi earned $122m last year. He still felt the need to take Saudi money' , Forbes: 'Revealed: The Huge Sum Messi Reportedly Earns As Saudi Arabia Ambassador'.
Prefer Messi but it’s clear that most organisations heavily favour him. UEFA chairman also said that they might consider adding MLS in the UCL after Messi’s move. They should try to be fair and do better to hide the bias.
"Cristiano was hounded out of Europe by a hate campaign" He left united in a shameful manner after realising he could no longer cut it in the PL. Hounded out lmao....
Don't you just love how people with a lot of money try to pay all their problems away. The goal of the Saudi league is to win over a younger audience that is yet to view them the way we do, they only need to maintain a level of sustainability for a while, and then have their minor influence naturally grow through younger generations viewing them differently. They definitely need to be taking down a peg before they completely rot the game
The other day i watched Ronaldo playing against Al-Hilal. It was the best football I watched since a long period of time. Top notch football and better than any European championship except the premier league. From now on i know the Saudi Pro League is competing directly with the best championship in the world and I'm willing to pay to watch it.
I am still waiting for a video regarding how the UK government has forced Chelsea sale. The funny thing is that even FIFA didn't investigate this sale, and I guess they didn't because it is the UK government. Had it been in Saudi, everyone will be crying and screaming about politics involvement in sports.
No one but no one complained when European Leagues weakened African, South America and even Asian leagues, but now it's a problem when UAE does the same thing. Europeans and the Americans thinks too much of themselves in every sense.
![KSI - Dirty [Official Visualiser]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/VoDh1h1dPUE/mqdefault.jpg)
As a brazillian i find it funny that europeans are mad about a foreign country "stealing" their players for a ridiculous amount of money
Europeans thinks they own everything
They think players outside Europe play in european clubs for love and not for the millions of euros they offer. I imagine the face of a Barcelona fan when he learns that Messi supports Newell's Old Boys and not Barcelona
The fact is that Europe already had a proper football culture
@@junaahh Saudi Arabia is working to create a football culture too
@@fabiospfc yeah but you need to work on the academies, train the little kids in order to raise the level of the league. You can't just buy randomly 3/2 stars per team and the rest of the team is mediocre. It doesn't work like that
Maybe I will be proven wrong but I strongly believe this Saudi Arabia project is not sustainable with the way they are going about it, let's see time will tell
If you’re from the west I wouldn’t doubt you hating lowkey but don’t want to say
It'll die after a season when everyone realises the quality is poor and noone is watching
it will be chinese league 2.0 , why do you think they have to pay people so much to move there lmao?
@oriplaydirty I wouldn't call it "hating." We saw Xi Jinping do the same thing with soccer/football in China, and it had the opposite effect. If I were a 17, 18 year old player, I'd want to spend my time developing by competing with the best players and teams, and more likely than not, those teams and players are in Europe.
The cost of sustaining a league with players like Ronaldo for 10 years is as expensive as the most luxurious public healthcare program. It is sustainable, but it's not sensible.
If European nations think they're being robbed by Saudi Arabia buying players, then it's absolutely a lie. Southern America was one most valuable stage for players back then but they have forgotten so soon how they brought the best players from other places, making their league standardized.
Every continent will also experience this. It's my hopes that one day Africa will also have some of the best players playing in our league
Not true. There is a big difference between the clubs themselves buying players vs transfers being funded by a government directly.
I hope Africa and North America where I live can have better talents playing here. But I want that money and investment to come from private citizens not the government.
These superstars that are moving are the ones I have seen while growing up. Even Messi moved to MLS. But that’s precisely what most people can’t separate when they say they’re afraid of the Saudi League taking big players. These big players are towards the end of their careers, and bright talent is taking center stage in Europe now. That’s how it always happens, players in their peak are still in the big leagues. The only sad part is there’s so many big names close to retirement age
Once the government moved their interest away from Football, the league will wither away. These oil countries are like the kids from the super rich, spending extravagantly on luxuries things.
Africa will never have a league that’s any good lol
@@Plupert Google el Generalisimo involvement in Spanish football
I'm brazillian, and I was very worried when I heard about Neymar's transfer rumour. But now, seing how many good players they signed, in such a short term, makes me feel avenged for the great "Brazilian league" europeans deprived me of seeing.
But Saudi is nothing like great nations of England and Brazil, they have no human rights there or freedom of expression, their culture should not be promoted
Players go to Saudi for money and there's weird clauses in their contracts, like them getting extra pay for mentioning Saudi Arabia positively in a social media post.
The ones that went to Europe, did so to play on the highest level.
@@MidnightSpliffthey didnt go to europe for money ? now saudi arabia is just offering more money and so what if they need to promote saudi arabia
@@Daggerwordano you said that wrong, England is nothing like the great nations of Brazil and Saudi Arabia. Their human rights record speaks for itself, also they don’t have a culture to promote.
I think there are similarities between the two, but the big difference is Europe buys young talented players to display top-tier matches. The middle east currently is buying players who pretty much already have names and are closer to the end of their careers than the beginning, which gives off the appearance of just trying to get attention even if that isn't the case.
This will no doubt appeal to players only after the largest possible payout in the short term. It's no surprise that Ronaldo, Benzema, and Konte, players near the end of their careers, are the headline signings to Saudi Arabian teams. These sorts of players used to go to MLS in the US, and maybe now they'll be funneled into Saudi Arabia instead. But ultimately, what drives most of the best players in any sport is the desire for competition and glory, and there's not much of that to be had in a mickey mouse league doubling as a PR vehicle. I think most of the fuss over these signings is drummed up by legitimately excited Saudi citizens and people who somehow forgot that the marquee signings are just trying to retire someplace warm.
Perfectly said. I agree
how long untill the saudis buy places in the UCL? They must be stopped
- someplace warm ?? You obviously don't know what it's like to live in that region...... Most of the year you have to stay indoors with A/C on full blast.....
@@panchopuskas1 I'm from Arizona in the US. Trust me, I know what it's like in the desert. I was partly joking, but it's true that athletes often prefer to go to warmer climates as they age, because cold winters are especially tough on their worn-out joints. Ronaldo to Saudi Arabia, Messi to Miami, Zlatan to Los Angeles, and so on.
@@victorsefanit’s more likely that they create their own super league
European fans are getting a taste of what the rest of the world has been experiencing for decades (south American players going to Europe etc)
It's does not affect European football.
And they are really bitter 😅
It’s great for European football that this is happening actually
All these ageing players years off retirement have gone for a payday oh no how will europeon football cope
It makes no difference to European football. One or two bright players might ruin their careers for money like Oscar signing for Shanghai (Never played for Brazil again). But by in large spectators will flock to where the level of play is the highest (and that’s where the generation of wealth will be). The Saudi govt pouring in money to get retiring players to come to their league is most definitely not sustainable
If Saudi Pro League wants to get on the ladder, then it would be prudent to invest and entice the best youngest talent from South America and employ a training structure to structure to ensure good development. Europe has been fleecing South America since the turn of the century, KSA take note.
Real talk
And africa maybe
Europe been fleecing South America since the 1960s
@@nazalmoideen Yeah the arabs love those africans. They still sell them as slaves to this day.
Yep, they are acting like MLS 1.0 and they should be copying MLS 3.0. Buy young talented prospects and flip them for profits, invest heavily in academies to bring up the local talent. Saudi just trying to short cut it. Didn't work in MLS, didnt work in China, wont work in Saudi.
But it's not always sunny for the Saudi Pro League as they had hit some roadblocks. Max Allegri and Jose Mourinho had rejected the Saudi's advances to coach in their league. Romelu Lukaku is adamant that Inter Milan is the only place he wants to be in despite numerous attempts by Chelsea to offload him to Saudi Arabia putting the player and club at odds. But perhaps the biggest L of them all (and one they refuse to let go) is when Lionel Messi rejected Al-Hilal's $400M per year offer to join Inter Miami and the MLS where he'd also receive percentage from the Apple+ subscription revenue and from Adidas shirt sales while having the opportunity to invest in a MLS franchise (be it existing or new). While many in the Internet were saying that Messi should've "taken the money" there's more than just the money that are factor - Messi's family just didn't want to move to a country that is known for its ultra-conservative Islam practices. Same with Lukaku - a practicing Roman Catholic. While a move to Saudi Arabia seems logical for the likes of Karim Benzema and N'golo Kante (who are practicing Muslims), it is not for others like Messi or Lukaku
Most Muslims players dont really practice the religion, they live in a wester way, they drink go to clubs etc, they just say these execused for their fans. They ate afraid they will lose theirt fanbase because fans what bring the players money
@@aliati8377 You're probably right about Benzenonce, but Kanté is apparently a very devout muslim.
@@aliati8377nah man players like Salah,Mané,Dembele,Kante,Mahrez and Pogba are all devoted Muslims
I can’t speak for Benzema if u know u know.😅
Ofc there are other Muslims who are very influenced and moved by the western culture but I would say most Muslim players are devoted to their religion
@@Glory-Compasssalah celebrates Christmas...
Messi is the brand ambassador of Saudi Arabia 👀
I'm not a fan of Ceferin, but he's right when he said that the Saudi league isn't sustainable. Tifo did a video on what happened to the Chinese Super League when Tevez, Pelle, Hulk, and others made the move to China. Coupled with unsustainable growth and the glaring lack of Champions League, the Saudi league is another ticking time bomb. Even with their blatant sportswashing, from buying Newcastle, LIV Golf, and the other sporting events, the Saudis can't hide from public opinion. The fact that Todd Boehly has Saudi investors in his venture capitalist firm is a huge conflict of interest in the Premier League, and this won't last. MLS did the same thing ten years ago. Pirlo, Gerrard, Lampard, and others all came to America and retired shortly thereafter. The ultimate problem with the Saudi league is Benzema, Ronaldo, Kante, and others going are injury-prone and over the hill. Even Ruben Neves at 26 is going to waste the rest of his best years playing quality below his level.
Ruben Neves isn't over the hill tho, twenty seven to twenty nine are generally considered to be a players prime
I agree with your assessment although I have to disagree on the MLS case. I can see the MLS is growing in terms of viewership as the US is an emerging market for football. Not to mention the US is also the largest economy in the World.
But there also signing young players too
@@leonthethird7494 You see saudi or MLs will never be able to attract top young players like Halland or Mbappe thats why their viewership wont be as high as Europe and money will eventually dry but Saudi will gain relevance in football and maybe rights to host the wc but the league will never rival any top 5 league
@@concernedcitizens4110yeah because the MLS completely changed their business model.
This is straight up what European clubs did to South American football
Didn't like it back then either.
Nope. Unlike Saudi Europe already had some of the best leagues itw and their nations had been succesful in world cups. When you also add far better economical situation in Europe it just made sense for players to go there.
@@villek3722so ur saying saudi doesn’t have a good economical situation?
@@CelebRealTalk yes they have that but they dont have the tradition or the quality that already exists there without foreigners
Europe is the epicenter of football. This is where the sport grows and is developed. Your comparison is dogshit.
A bunch of players are gonna get poached but beyond the infinite money they can throw at it, nobody outside of the Arab World would actually pay attention to the league. Like, one Ronaldo retires they don't have much to go for.
exactly and I don't see Ronaldo not leaving them once his contract is over and going to the MLS and getting a similar deal to messi. Messi is clearly the smarter one for long term gains here. He owns the freaking team. He had enough money in the first place, so did Ronaldo but you can't own anything in any of the Middle Eastern countries if you aren't from those countries. Defeats the point imo of wanting to start business there. Doing business, fine but building a business not a shot.
@@ManCity_Guardiola trueee I did forget
It’s like most fans would still prefer MLS over Saudi league if they had to watch one, even if MLS is considered a banter league by most. It’s also the ‘familiarity’ between fans and organisations, west to west.
UEFA considered adding MLS to the UCL after Messi signed even though Saudi league has far more superstars now. Neither country rests in the European sphere but its clear which one UEFA favours.
This is a multi year project. As the west continues to decline Saudi will grow and grow.
Saudi is doing this whole thing to cater to the west kiddo to ensure it's existence.
I don't think much of the problem is a different league rivaling European football because every country should have a chance to improve their league, but more so the multiple human rights violations
Norwegian sovereign wealth funded super league when?
multiple human rights violations LOL other nation has much bigger problems.
@@yousufhossain9768believing in a God makes you a bot, my fellow Bangladeshi brother 😂😂
@@yousufhossain9768 what did lgbt people do to you? Did your father touch you? Why do you hate people that has done you no harm? Human right violation includes more than lgbt, like how women must have a legal guardian, they are not seen as humans.
@@yousufhossain9768 It's that and the killing of apostates and "witches" and anti establishment reporters and journalists, you guys are still developing from a more authoritarian dictatorship style of ruling and running a country
The signing of AL-Ronaldo and now AL-Benzema has improved the league awareness
Cristiano bin Ronaldo 😅
Won’t help it to last…it would eventually die..
@@Yeaahh2Muslimo Ronaldo
yea except they wanted the World Cup. That was their ultimate goal but they were out bid by multiple countries. Which is should be like that anyway. No country can sustain the amount of ppl it takes and the pressure on the infrastructure and social tensions as a whole. Plus there are an exponential amount more ppl and ability to travel compared to before.
Plus and I cant stress this enough, if you cannot have it in the summer, you shouldn't be hosting it. Screw you. Also no alcohol no bueno.
@@LoightaFluwid😂😂😂
When European leagues take players from South America and Africa, they say it’s ok and call it an opportunity
But when Saudi Arabia buys players from Europe, they complain and call it sportswashing.
Pure hypocrisy.
For real 😂😂😂
Can’t take these Europeans seriously, they’re so biased and they can’t even see it
European hypocrisy at its best
Not hypocrisy. It's fact.
Get that chip off your back. European Leagues are the best in the world with or without South American or African players.
How much TV revenue does the Nigerian League generate?
So hateful 😂vedio…dont talk to much just came to saudi see for yourself and i will host u
it just makes it easier to root against them in the AFC Champions League
National team and teams are winners in Asian competitions, now more to come 😅
Why the hate I'm confused? As a Saudi I just find it odd how people are falling for the false western probaganda
They even have a poundland Champions League too? Lmao
Thanks
TBH, I feel saudi might be the richest league but its all about the fans, They can buy players but not the fans. While many follow their fav players, Its doesn't mean they just quit supporting their club.
They can buy fans, man city, psg have done it etc
@@leonthethird7494 One of the most important reasons why Qatar bought PSG was the fact that it was the only professional club in a city of a population of 12 million.
They didn't buy fans, they were already there.
They have 500 million people in the middle east
@@ashtonalmond9024 yeah they will capture the middle east / islam market, as well as curious casuals, and people wanting to see what Ronaldo and whatnot are upto. But unlikely it will get close to the EPL. EPL gets viewers from over 190 countries, and numbers in the billions. Add all the Euro leagues together and it's even bigger. They won't have the CL either. The Euro leagues all work together in a way also, developing exciting youth players who feed into the various big leagues / top clubs across Europe. It's a giant network effect that goes on. Creating depth, competition and excitement. The KSA league won't have anything like that either.
Football culture is there and it’s not something new mate🤦🏽♂️. More the 80% of population plays/watches football in saudi. The least you can do is watch a game between Al-Hilal V Al-Ittihad or Al-Nassr and see how the fans go crazy
it’s just funny seeing premier league fans and pundits complain about saudi being able to spend so much to buy players from them but they have been spending ridiculous amounts for money for the past 5 years and doing the same to other leagues
Other players (local players)in the Saudi league will benefit from exposure because top players attract more tv rights.
Lol, except it didn't for chinese players when their league got all the publicity when they signed big names back in 2016.....
@@killbot86 chinese league is different, lack of talent athough having massive population..at their peak, they didnt even win a match in world cup or having consistent winning score against asian team, saudi arabia already qualified for wc for 6th time.. and did have great reputation winning in asia, winning 3 asian cup title, only second to japan
@@wokashraf5028no it doesn't matter. saudi teams don't play in uefa competitions.
That's the greatest pull of all.
@@Micfri300 different continent, how on earth a team from asia to play in eufa?..saudi planning on better world cup appearance...this is one way as their player rarely playing outside their country. current local player did a good job in qatar wc. WC is the greatest, not eufa competition
@@wokashraf5028his hatred make him blind from facts
I don’t think anyone in Europe will care no matter how much they spend
Quality and prestige > money
no they can take all of the old players, I'd rather them go to the MLS but w/e. They are essentially (with the help of Chelsea) syphoning money into the EPL and the new era of players.
They don't need Europe to care. they just need to attract the arab world and Asia which have more eyes than europe.
@@Honorbound43 they can have any of the players. I rather watch my local plumber play for my club then watch that league. The majority of people I know are turning more and more towards grass roots football anyway, my self included. Not the best talent but it’s some of the best football you can watch.
@@soko3900 I doubt that I’ll stick with madrid especially with our new youth squad perfect transition from one generation to the next. And next to these oil clubs I feel like the underdog but also still the kings. Hala madrid y nada mas! Been watching since 2002. But yea I hope the smaller teams get a resurgence. Like I love that serie a is coming back. We need more of that. Bundesliga is broken imo
The true test will be if people from overseas actually start watching, and I don’t think that will happen purely because some big players go there. The premier league has never been popular because of its big names, its popularity has endured due to the high quality of its play and long and rich history of its teams. Ditto for Serie A and La Liga.
The MLS has a long history of signing marquee European players, but it hasn’t taken over the global market because the quality of play hasn’t improved to European standards and the teams don’t have the established identity.
Perhaps this attempt to disrupt football will be more successful than the Chinese Super League, but honestly I struggle to see it truly challenging the big European leagues
I like your observation, but one more factor why the PL is most watched is due to the impact of its colonial history. Many countries around the world have a basic understanding of English and were once an English colony, giving English football an early and long headstart from way back. England don't even need to win any more World Cups to gain more following from non-World Cup countries.
The Saudis could take the CSL's failure as a lesson, but I feel 2030 is too close to have any meaningful impact with grassroots football. If they can actually raise the base levels, then maybe I'd start watching. I still don't watch the MLS or women's football despite so much noise and exposure from the media.
What I think most westerners in here don't understand is that the target audience doesn't necessarily have to be from Europe and the US. Do you realise the arab world accounts for more than 400M people?! And though I'm also against some principles of the Saudi League, but it is actually attracting so many new viewers, portugese fans seem to also enjoy the signing of Neves, you got huge numbers in the Indonesians and Malaysians that follow the league too, and this is just today in 2023, people keep saying their investment is 'unsustainable' but what everyone keeps missing is that they have INFINITE money like literally with the oil prices and the increasing demand in upcoming years, so they won't have any issue in splashing money until 2030 where it might become a "standard" league that people occasionally watch, and that arabs fully or partialyl follow too. Chinese economy was always too sketchy while you have Qatar or even Kuwait that could be doing the same but haven't yet, and they're not collapsing anytime soon either.
Also isn't it ironic that most of Africa and Asia watches the PL because they got colonised and divided by the British and then adopted their language, but that's normal right haha?
@@idrissbelmejdoub6632 I believe it's the very fact that these Westerners know, some burying it in the deepest depths of their subconsciousness, that they are where they are today because of colonisation and whatever washing their forefathers once did, that they are so afraid of others now doing exactly the same to compete with them today.
@idrissbelmejdoub6632 the man wanted to improve his countries image so that he would get better deals with the democratic countries because dictators and many other coorupt governments can just do trade deals with him without worrying pver the public opinion of their people.
Man stfup, no one is watching burnley vs bournemouth
What they should have done is improve youth development and that way they could improve the league and it be more sustainable
obviously that is the goal but you need publicity first, you cant get the youth to want to play in the league if there is no buzz
This is like fantasy land talk. They're not playing FIFA 23. They have trillions of dollars and are making real things happen right now.
@@soso_imas China tried it and didn’t work. Having infinite money in Arabia might do the trick but the real development starts from something as basic as promoting sports at schools.
@@TheThirdWorldCitizen ye tifo mentioned this when they said they want to increase the number of registered players from 21000 to 200000
@@soso_imas Sure plans are always in place, only time will tell if they work out as planned.
Almost all recruits this far are too old for it to be anything we haven’t seen already but a couple things could lead to believe this thing could become more than a Chinese league 2.0 or a new NASL for those who remember:
1. A few recruits have been quite young players that main european clubs wanted
2. The business doesn’t need to work, the government directly funding the clubs, no ffp in asia, so we are unlikely to see another NASL situation
3. The number of clubs is perhaps the best choice made this far, not too many, but fewer would create an inbalanced league like bundesliga
4. A new club world cup, with 32 clubs participating and being held every 4 years is starting in 2025, so these clubs will probably get to play UEFA clubs pretty soon on a big stage, if this is a success, this may lead to more people watching the league
5. Saudi pro league is already a pretty successful league (in asia), its clubs going far or winning the asian champions league pretty often
check my channel for some fire football and ronaldo content
People should learn that Europe is not the only place to play football
Just like Chinese football, this will also crumble in couple of years
Keep believing in that 😄
Exactly..
UCL is be all and end all of club football..
Asia cannot compete with that..
@@teamdauntlessreal I want Saudi to do well as I hate Europes continued dominance in football but unfortunately I feel like this will end up like the Chinese Super League bro
@@vb2388ont rule out Saudi buying their way to gaining Champions League spots, especially if the teams become competitive against the too European clubs
Its depends on if Saudi lose interest or if there are sanctions against them, neither of which are likely for the next 5 years
This makes me root for the Japanese and Korean clubs to beat Saudi Arabian clubs in the AFC Champions League.
Ok
Hahahaha of course you hate the Arabs because you know they have the religion of truth with and your jealousy is killing you right now
Al hilal is already the club with most asian championships alongside Urawa red diamonds from japan and thats before all the superstars so it will be difficult to compete with the saudi's. Unlike china saudi arabia already has a good league with good local players that challenge for the champions league yearly without superstars.
الاندية السعوديه اقوى من جميع الاندية الاسيوية
You don't know much how the AFC Champions League works, do you?
The last issue mentioned is the gravest of all and is likely what will stop Saudi League from getting anywhere near the top 10 Leagues in the world.
will never have global appeal regardless of the players
@@Ccccc-mi3tr couple more recession needed .. itll die out on its own.
I don't see them disrupting anything untill young players start saying that their dream is to play for Al Nasser or Al hilal someday.
People comparing the saudi and chinese league forget three things: 1) Football is the #1 sport in KSA, unlike in China 2) The saudi league was already one of the strongest in Asia 3) The Qatar WC made it more acceptable to come to the region, and KSA plans to host the Asian cup 2027.
The project isn't sustainable as it is, but the PR and marketing can make up for it. Also, asia as a whole benefits with the Asian champions league attracting more crowds in China and india for example.
Is the project sustainable? Who knows, if some of money generated from sales and publicity is poured into the youth sector and academy it could be a good step.
Well, i think football is the only sport in KSA and Saudi’s r crazy about football more than Japanese and Koreans and Chinese
@@anaspiranttrader8663
That’s not true it’s not the only sport in Saudi why would it be the only sport ?
But it’s the most popular sport by far
@@anaspiranttrader8663china and korea yes, japan no
@@h0ndesohn708 i mean you're right there, like there's couple of key points that can be taken here why Japan really loves football/soccer. Urawa Red Dragons is pretty much the AFC Champions, there are also multiple japanese players coming to Europe (Kaoru Mitoma, Hidetoshi Nakata, Wataru Endo, Shunsuke Nakamura, and couple more) compared to Korea (Son Heung min and Park Ji Sung is the only 2 I know of) or Chinese (none from what I know).
Not to mention Japan's football Animes pretty much hyped it up even further.
@@mineshaft12 Zidane, Mbappe, Ronaldo, Messi, Kaka, Neymar, Iniesta, Torres and Aguero all said they were influenced by captain tsubasa 😭 japan also have their 100 year plan, the second most professional clubs itw, and a squad capable of beating anyone on a good day. Japan is worlds ahead of korea, china and saudi arabia
Blood money has historically done well in football. Sadly.
Whwt blood money?
I’m hoping they don’t get Bernardo Silva because that’s the statement signing in my opinion..
Why does it matter to you?
@@ashtonalmond9024 likely a man city fan
@@cutecat1764 ...or not... Bernardo is a player in his prime, and could possibly walk into any top European starting 11... if he were to choose the Saudi League over staying in Europe then it's a turning point. No longer can anyone say it's just players nearing retirement going to Saudi for one last big pay day. It'll mean oil money wins and football loses.
@@doml8959 Well, they didnt get Messi... How arguable is the biggest icon after winning the world cup/
@@majormononoke8958 you're missing the point, regardless of how big Messi is... he's coming to the end of his career, and if he had gone to Saudi Arabia it'll just be seen as an opportunity for a big pay day before retiring.
Him and Bernardo are 2 completely different situations.
"Hey Siri, what's Sportswashing?"
When Saudi Arabia buys football player then its disturbing the sport, but when the British clubs did the same and bought the football players from the Italian league (which was the best that time) they did nothing wrong? Hypocrisy!!
It isn't that they are buying players, it is they are using this to try to gloss over the terrible way they treat their citizens, and the rest of the world.
Don't forget PSG did the same with italian clubs (cavani, ibrahimovic, lavezzi)
A lot of hype about 4 teams who can afford to sign big names to attract broadcast deals, sponsorships and shirt deals. That's the business model. Their target audience is Asia, middle east and the muslim world. The PIF will make money, but where's the Saudi football fan culture? It barely exists outside the big 4. No Ronaldo, no crowds. You can't build a proper competitive league without a built-in fan culture who will attend the games with or without the big names playing.
I find it hilarious how the English media call this sports Washing when throwing money around to get the best is exactly what the premier league has done with african players for decades 😂
This comment is actually so dumb I'm in shock 💀💀💀
Clearly as you are uneducated so I will happily explain as a Saudi NATIONAL.
The Premier League has built itself to be the best league in world football over multiple decades whereas the Saudi league is trying to buy the success overnight.
I’m happy that my country is investing in sports but there needs to be more investment in grassroots football and homegrown players like in the UK, Argentina, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain etc.
If the Saudi league keeps on buying foreign superstars then we will just be like China a couple years ago. Once the players retire, the league will revert to how it was a pre Ronaldo.
I’m sure if your car broke down tomorrow you’ll blame the West! Get a grip and look at things a different way. Go read a book and improve your critical thinking.
sports washing isnt just "throwing money around". its a way in which governments and other organisations can improve their image on the world stage. this is what saudi arabia wants at the end of the day - to be taken seriously by global governments and individuals around the world especially in the west, so it is trying to change public perception of the country through sportwashing.
Since when were premier clubs states. 😂
With the Saudi Pro League, I got the idea they are making up for lost time. The Saudi Pro League was an idea started up in 1993 when Saudi Arabia Qualified for the 1994 FIFA World Cup to help find players for the National Team.
Why would people outside of Saudi Arabia want to watch their league? MLS has better quality football and it isn't that popular overseas.
I doubt that honestly 😂
Even more make sense they starter doing this no?
If you’re from South America, this is what MLS is hoping it can you, you jump to a club in the MLS, get some experience and exposure and then make the leap over to a European team. Look at Almiron and Newcastle
There’s fans outside of Europe who follow players more than they do teams. This league is for them.
@@PC-sq3zq chinese didn't follow their own league when they tried this, don't think they will start following the saudi league. also: the only way to become a superstar in football is to play for european top clubs, that won't change in the foreseeable future. it ight take decades to build a reputation like the top legues in europe have and i doubt oil money will be there long enough, one day they will need the money elsewhere and it's over. the markets that care for the saudi league are arab countries and possibly africa, economically that isn't sustainable. and they will realize that their sportswashing attempts are not really working that well, prior to qatar hosting the world cup barely anyone cared for human rights abuses in that country, people only started noticing when it was announced that they wold host the WC. and in case you think that is only a problem regarding their relations to the west: why would you even need sportswashing for countries that don't care anyway?
Watching Football in Europe : 🥰
Watching the exact Football with the same rules and players in Saudi : 😱
Even if they sign World Class Players, it wouldn’t mean they are a World Class League..
EPL will still be the Best League in the World for a long time for the reputation and legacy the clubs have…
not to mention Saudi doesn’t play in UCL..
Epl is one of the worst leagues in the world, feel like falling asleep after 5 minutes of play
That’s the unfortunate thing. It’s almost like Europe intentionally pushes other leagues down. Leagues outside of Europe never have a chance to shine properly. I hope Saudi can change this but I doubt it
@@ByddinRhyddidCymruyeah man that’s why it’s the wealthiest league in the world 😂😂I think you’re definitely alone on that one
@@ByddinRhyddidCymruso you definitely has no idea about the sport.
@@ByddinRhyddidCymru Pep’s Man City plays boring Football?
Mate even Brighton would destroy Saudi teams 😂
This wouldnt bother if i just didnt knew the sportswashing behind it
Saudi league only got its popularity when ronaldo signed for Al-Nasser. Even if the saudi league is bringing in quality players from europe, the brand of football and the quality of football is no way near that of european football. Yes, football is for everyone and not just europe, but just consider that most players that are currently joining the saudi league are either entering their mid 30s or are even above 35, players who are injury prone and would not be bought by any european club because of that, or players who just want huge sums of money because most european clubs can’t afford to offer such ludicrous contracts. They may be signing young players as well but those young players need better competition to develop as a player. While their vision is great, their vision is not sustainable.
It is not distrupt, it is improving
قال الله ( وَلَنْ تَرْضَى عَنْكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلا النَّصَارَى حَتَّى تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ )
It signs up players at the end of their careers, and the native saudi players will get no publicity.
It's an entertainment package without any real foundation.
It's a bit rich of Ceferin to come out and say that they "shouldn't be signing players from Europe, they should focus on developing their own." As if European football isn't the destination for literally every other continent.
It would be great to have more competitive leagues all across the globe, but there's definitely concerns with certain regimes using football for sports washing
You act like "Europe" does not produce its own players. What a weird take.
Algeria: why always me?!
I totally agree and have been saying for a long time that this form of growing a league isnt sustainable. But conversely, how else does a country grow their league. Is it to say that unless you are already a European team or in the champions league, youre destined to be a globally minor league? Surely football cant be contained within the confines of Europe?
Unfortunately for everyone else, Europe figured out how to capitalize on young talent before everyone else did. They now have a deep and extensive culture of skilled football known for being the best. They have all of the glory every that generation of players want because of the history. Saudi Arabia won't obtain this by simply buying retiring super stars. This will be like a dim-lit fire waiting to burn out once these guys are done.
They need to capitalize on young talent and build them into superstars to incentivize newer generations to play for their country's clubs instead of just hoping that the European contract arrives. A lot of clubs make money by selling young talent to Europe and probably don't get too invested in their players personally, it's just business unfortunately. However this is just the sad reality of getting there first, and now every other region of the world has to follow behind. I'm not sure that it will ever change at this point, simply by the nature of it.
@@zharth. I agree with everything you’ve said except how you’ve framed the first sentence: that Europe “figured it out”. That makes it seem as if it was due to their own competence when in reality it was due to global imbalances (which I hope I don’t need to explain) that meant they had/still have a monopoly on the money required to grow their sport beyond their competition.
But yes I agree with everything else you’ve said following after their initial advantage.
@@Teezy561 Yeah I agree, I didn't really mean that as in Europe was the first to think of doing this. They just had the resources and took the advantage before others could. It's similar to how America dominates the internet. Other countries have their own versions of social media, but it's hardly ever going to compete with the American media.
La Liga model is not sustainable either lol Barcelona have had to sell off future revenue to stay afloat.
I imagine they hoping to invest massively to scale it back overtime this is nothing new in capitalism Amazon, Sony PlayStation, Disney+, Uber all have done this run at a loss until you gain marketshare
Tbh it's smarter to do 4 teams like Saudi are doing than like French league where u just have 1 team that outweighs all the other by a country mile.
It's the competition across the board that made the Premier League the most watched League in the world.
Nice vid..btw i think king salman is fulfilling end of times prophecy.
Hopefully this will lead to the Premier League having more English players at their top clubs.
1:49 You couldn’t even get Al nasser’s fans. This is the home and fans of Al Ittihad
Any league challenges the norm:
UEFA/FIFA: Wait that's illegal
It's not different then European teams then,no one forced them to go to Saudi Arabia, they offer a good contract, and its their choice to accept or reject it ,simple ,no one stole their player lol
What happened in China was different, they wanted to attract people toward football and clearly they failed, but what is happening in Saudi is totally different, because football is already the most popular sport in the country. Since we have cash what we need basically is good management. The Prem started by attracting stars from Italy by paying them more😂, so you should know that sport is all about cash and management
Bro Arabs and Middle East are obsessed with football. Go into any Arab coffee shop when football match is on lol
You haven’t got a grassroots culture, tho. Just throwing money at players won’t keep the interest in the Saudi league for the long term.
@nas84payne yes just like Messi, he was offered a very huge sum of money to play in the middle east but he refused
Whatever Saudi is doing, they are doing right. The monopoly over football by European clubs need to be destroyed. They can't tolerate any success of any other Nations.
@@GeorgeSupremuYou realise Messi is getting paid just as much by the MLS
Saudi Arabia: "Yeah, we still needlessly torture people to death and don't care about our own women, but hey, we have Cristiano and Benzema now! We're not that bad"
They think that Ronaldo will bring the Saudi League more exposure. What is happening in practice is that the Saudi League is bringing about Ronaldo's obscurity. Out of sight out of mind.
Also given that CR7 is in the twilight of his career now alongside others.
Making hundreds of millions
so when European leagues buy players it is fine, but when other leagues outside of Europe it becomes a big problem and we have to stop it lol.
I can't see the western fans paying subscriptions to watch these clubs in a span of 4 years
you don know that the western world only equates to 35% 0f the world population and since they have unlimited wealth in trillions not including the trillions of American debt they hold, once they throw enough money at it, they'll eventually succeed and remember 70% of the worlds population actually hates the west.
I will.
I love the sword on the thumbnail 🎉😊
I feel a regional (it can parallely exist alongside AFC CL) consolidated league among the Middle Eastern countries rather than domestic league will be more popular as it will draw more coverage and more competition.
Fan travel in a highly polarized region is impossible due to visa restrictions and hostility against visiting teams would be so common because every country is basically on each others throats. If it could've been done, pretty sure balkans would've done it by now.
It’s going to compete more with MLS in America than European clubs. Aging players will certainly make more money in Saudi. As long as the contracts are honoured.
As we look by revenue generated purely based on broadcasting, it's not even close. It's just government funded league. Atleast MLS isn't government funded.
But that can change very quickly with funding like this and the players moving there. Saudi Arabia is the only government that can fund this and if they can do so for 5 years and make it commercially sustainable on its own through advertising during those 5 years, it will work
that's why MLS flopped
@@jakeclough8090 if u like watching it go watch, can't care much, non of them will ever win balon dor or UCL.
@@thunderapple5368 first of all I never said I wanted to watch it so stop with the passive aggressiveness. I’m just saying what they’re trying to do and that they do have the money to do it. And secondly many people will watch even if you don’t care mate. No player outside La liga has won the ballon dor in about 15 years so you saying serie a, the Orem, the budeslgia etc etc are bad as well? Likewise there are lots of clubs who are massive but haven’t won the ucl in decades if ever, so another irrelevant point. And plus if the Saudi league did become a big big deal the club World Cup or some super cup will just become as or nearly prestigious as the ucl anyway
@@jakeclough8090 i just said if u want, chill out. Why you mad
163k views after a day. You guys in Tifo are doing something right.
I don't watch football to see stars, i watch it to be a part of a community, I'm sure I'm not the majority but I'm more likely to watch my local team in division three than tune in to watch the saudi league even if they took the all the best players.
Ok
لانريدك تشاهد الدوري السعودية انقلع
Completely agree. They can buy all the big names they want but they can’t buy history or what made football what it is in the first place.
@mosaabtwice3999 cool story. I’m referring to the fact that football in Europe and particularly the uk where it was invented was built up over around 150 years, largely thanks to local supporters. This is what made football the special game it is. But in recent years we’ve had people from places like the Middle East watching it on tv and posting on social media calling themselves fans without any appreciation for any of this. They wouldn’t be following it at all if it weren’t for Europeans organically developing the game and its teams (and South Americans, though they don’t have the same kind of plastic international fanbase). So what these plastic fans are now doing is trying to buy what they see on tv and bring it to their own countries. But they will never be able to buy essence of what makes football the special game it is. They just don’t understand the kind of thing @deanrtaylor is saying, will never be able to truly understand a local derby, and largely only care about big names.
@@PC-sq3zq Wikipedia ittihad FC and how it formed 95 years ago, Last year league winnner of Saudi league.
i'm not a fan of saudi league. however, aside of political and economical reasons of Saudi government, what they are doing in football is totally LEGIT. if you claim Saudis are disrupting football, i want you to remember chelsea, city, psg and or other "rich" clubs that can easily buy A tier players from smaller clubs or from brazil-argentina. sorry to say this but this is totally two-face approach.
Those going to Saudi are not unlike those who went to the MLS, Turkey and the like - not every player will win trophies or experience anything gloriously close to it. Most of these players, like many fans around the world, come from middle to very poor background and they have to choose between trying for something that may never happen to many (winning trophies and individual accolades), or accrue more than enough money during a short career life in order to retire comfortably. Waste of good years like Oscar and Neves? Their family will not feel so.
It's easy to sit on a moral high horse chastising players for "supporting sportswashing" - you're not the one with the opportunity to earn as much millions as you can within 10-15 years before the industry boots you out, with little education or skills to prepare you for life afterwards. I'm pretty sure most of those who are sitting so are mostly English or Europeans where their countries are among the top leagues - if you came from dirt houses in Africa or the favelas in Brazil, you just want to strive for the best life you can give your family and yourself by simply playing football. As for the unpaid salaries - I believe you need to also look at Wigan, Bolton, Sheff Wed, Inter and several women's national teams before thinking it's an exclusively Saudi/China/Turkey problem. Simply put, I call this the white man grand delusion. You want to think these problems don't apply to your world, but it does. Funnily, these people yap about "human rights" but they attack the rights of players to choose wherever it pleases them to go to.
Whether the Saudi league will implode like CSL remains to be seen. One clear nuanced difference is that the Chinese don't take football as the number one sport, while it certainly is in the middle east. The most important thing the CSL neglected was to work on grassroots football for sustenance. You can only throw so much money to solve problems.
nobody is going to criticize some player they never heard of for going to saudi. But for world class players playing in the top 5 leagues and who are famous enough to get invited by saudi clubs, their wages aren't that low that they need to go to the middle east to survive. someone like neves, who is by no means a superstar is taking home like 4 mil per year, he's not starving in the streets, and him throwing a potentially stellar career for more money than he needs is something that, in my opinion, warrants criticism
@@dokjastopsimp2370 you just proved my point by being way off the mark on this - nobody ANYWHERE with big money wants a player nobody ever heard of. You think Chelsea or City are gonna pay the same amount for a player no one's heard of?
So what if he had 4mil at Wolves? He decides that he wants to triple his wages at Saudi, so be it. If he can stretch that over 5 years, he's making 40mil more than at Wolves, potentially at lower taxes. He's only gonna be paid to kick a ball for another 10 years tops, and it's his career to decide what's important to his family and his life before he retires. Throw away? For all we know he could be planning to use that money to build businesses in Portugal that allows him to live comfortably past his 30s.
Just admit that you don't like it not being a Western destination. Rather hypocritical that people shout about human rights so-and-so but they attack the rights of a player like Neves to choose wherever he pleases to go to.
@@sususegar I'm not attacking the right for him to do so. he has the right to go play wherever and I have the right to point out the the sportswashing of Saudi Arabia is reaching a worrying degree and to say my opinion that he's throwing away his potential as a player by moving to a less competitive league. Also, live comfortably? I don't think you have any idea how much 4 million dollars are. You can live in luxury and allow your children to do the same by playing for that wage for 3-4 years and doing a few average investments
@@sususegarYou are completly delusional for comparing actual human rights violations with criticism of a players decision where he wants to play football. You know that Ruben Neves does not die or face any serious issues because some people in europe don't agree with his decision. I am obviously not saying that Saudi Arabia is the only place in the world with human rights violations, but it is a big problem and needs to be pointet out. The brain rot you must have experienced to put these to things in the same category is insane. "Yeah people die in Saudi Arabia but I don't like that you criticize a player for his decision." You know that Ruben Neves is just as free to go wherever as anybody is too criticize his move. Everybody can clearly see your hate for white people and europe in your comments. What a sad human being.
I agree with you on the "white man's moral high ground" accusation of the detractors of the Pro league about sports washing by throwing money at the thing and see what works. Many of the historic European teams grew and thrived because of money. The Premier League exists because of money. Chelsea was created because the original owner of Stamford bridge couldn't find a football team to play in it so he just made one.
For Sports to succeed, it takes many factors to work out. Money is important but, it's not the end all be all of it as has been proven repeatedly. There's many unsaid factors that work behind the scenes. RB Leipzig probably had the winning formula in a vault in Saxony somewhere and they're not sharing.
I disagree that human rights complaints should be ignored. They shouldn't. How the Saudi government and others Petrorich regimes treats women and dissenters and immigrants shouldn't be accepted or ignored and those of us that live in such countries where it isn't....all we have to deal with is a culture war. I prefer a culture war to that any day.
Hipocrisy is no excuse for any of it. One just has their own mirror image to look at instead of just outsiders
I wasn’t worried until they signed Ruben Neves. That man is still in his prime.
Not a superstar, tho (good player that he is).
Thing is, monetary power and level of play go together to an extent. Let’s be honest, one of the reasons why European club football has the highest level is also because their clubs have enough money to attract talent. Players from Africa, South America etc go play in Europe mostly because they are way better payed there, so the Saudi approach could work if the money keeps flowing.
Europeans: "Saudi can't host world cup they don't have football culture"
Saudi: *invests in football*
Europeans: "Wait..that's illegal"
Would have liked if you took it further about prospective future against European leagues especially EPL.
This aged well
International super League is inevitable. Globalisation but for football
Why are Europeans mad 😅😅😅. When they did to South America they weren’t mad
If you compare Europe to Saudi, remember one thing
Prestige&heritage > oil money
But prestige and heritage can't make you feel full, money can
But that didn't stop City from winning treble. With money you can write, erase and recreate history
@@lemagnifique1573as if European football pays peanuts.
@@nightking8490 listen my friend, im a culé myself, and we all know that Barcelona as one of the greatest football team will longtime prestige and heritage is in a financial crisis right now. With a huge financial deficit and debt, Barcelona should cut the salary, lost Messi, and couldn't register some of new players, and they are ended up with underperformed and knocked in every group stage of CL by year to year. While on the other hand, club with financial stabilities like Real Madrid and Bayern München could keep their glorious day, with some newcomers like Man City, PSG, Chelsea, and Newcastle United are going better by acquire better player with proper and sustainable salary, with huge financial support from their ultra-rich owners. So yeah you can't deny the importance of money.
If Saudi Arabia wants to build their football by this way, it's up to them. Either it will be successful or ended up with failure is their business, as Europe will always be the "birthplace" of modern football.
@@lemagnifique1573 Well,Barcelona did it to itself. People like Bartomeu will do the same to Madrid and Munich.
They aren’t no disrupting they are killing football.
Some People still think that players are going to saudi because of Ronaldo😂😂. It is because of the MONEY! Why didn't players go to Serie A when he moved to Juventus in 2018? With that said, Saudi Will for sure take over football. No player moves to a foreign country with diffrent languages, cultures and weather leaving his friends and family just because they 'Love' the game, it is mostly because they can earn better. And If saudi can offer better salaries for doing the exact same thing, then a rational person will take it, just like in any other job.
They can't take over football when most of the players they're signing are retiring in about 2 or 3 years. Younger players will always want to play in Europe.
@@david91lvbthey just signed Ruben Neves
@@haywoodjblome4768 If you're asked to name some of the best midfielders in the Premier league alone, nobody ever thinks of Ruben Neves. He's literally average 💀
@@david91lvb So average he was linked to Barcelona, they just couldn't match Saudis offer because they're broke
@haywoodjblome4768 Like you said, they're broke so Barca wanted him because he was a cheap alternative that would be available on the market. If they had money they wouldn't entertain the idea of signing him because there are so many other better players
The Saudi League is very strong from before the existence of these deals. They have wonderful stadiums, wonderful flags, and a different atmosphere. Saudi Arabia is very large, and every city has a different atmosphere.
China from 2014 wishes to have a chat 🤣🤣🤣
Shame about the corrupt dictatorship govt and zero human rights that people living their get. I would rather live in poverty than under that regime.
Let me summarize this video for you:
1- Saudi Arabia is attracting best players and I am jealous because it should be only England and that’s our right.
2- to distract the audience I speak about stereotype Saudi human rights while we violate it too but who cares.
3- Players go to Saudi for money while they come to the premier league for love and competition not for money while we are the highest ever payer and solely responsible for football inflation.
Hypocrisy To elite level
Ronaldo, Benzema now your hands are dirty of blood and all that money can’t buy back your soul
Saudi Arabia is in the process of establishing a tournament called the Super League, similar to Perez’s idea. It will include the top European clubs in addition to Saudi clubs, and its returns will be great.
1. Won't happen 2. If it did the Saudi Clubs would get torn to shreds
@@truenoae8689soon Saudi clubs would be able to win. They just need into import foreign players like the English teams did
@@squidguard1 no chance. Right now the most they have is 2-3 foreign players all past their primes playing in a non competitive league against teams without foreign players. If they ever get enough foreign players (and top managers) to compete, there will be no Saudi players left
@@truenoae8689 isn’t that what the English teams did? How many English players are in top 6? Even mid table teams are filled with foreign players. Football is growing in Saudi, they have the funds. They beat the World Cup winners last World Cup. Saudi could probably win silverware before England ever does lol
@@squidguard1 all teams have foreign players but EPL teams still have lots of English players, La Liga teams have lots of spanish players, Bundesliga with German players and so on. Beating Argentina was a fluke it doesnt mean Saudi Arabia is better lol. The league will have to decide if it wants to be a league filled with foreign talent (probably close to retirement) or a league to develop Saudi players. But it won't be both
Why nobody talked about this in the 70s and the 80s when europe used to do this or just because saudi is a muslim country?
i think this league is not temporary
If Saudi Arabia focuses not only on improving their domestic league, but in gaining an uncontested top dog position in the Arab world, the league could make it big, there's a potential pool of 450 million viewers and that's without arabs living abroad.
If the Saudi league monopolizes arab football fans the league will be sustainable I beleive.
Saudi league already watched by most of those 400milliom bud for a decade
@@Phantom-ez4zv link the tv viewership numbers, let's see it
@@dgh6g33gf mostly pirated tv channels watching it online, there's many arabic players that played in Saudi League from different countries so their fellow country men watch their players and plus same language, kind of like south America and Argentina and brazil league its watched by almost all south American ppl esp Derby's and big games, minus the fact that Brazil speak Portuguese not Spanish.
Most arabs admit publically on their channels that the Saudis league is 1st in arab world and some of them make similarity with prem in Europe obviously not even close to prem quality but they mean its the premier League of Arabs.
I mean it's nice we have variation and bring the competition away from Europe once in a while, but the amount of human rights violations they have in recent decades is a bit worrisome
They want to do all the PR before Oil dries up!
Not a bad thing or I'm against it. They are having the money, they are spending it for their PR!
I really wish they improve conditions as well.
Well, they are running out of time. Oil if it isn't finishing , will be used less and less.
Saudi approach is wrong. They are not developing their own Talents there but instead relying on greedy players coming there to end their career from Europe.
Only some Muslim player might want to go their without big money factor.
that will not happen for generations.
The oil isn't running out it's being banned by corrupt western nations for control and their own enrichment.
What conditions buddy? Saudi is already more advanced and rich and cleaner than most western countries
Europe has been doing this to South America for decades but once the saudis do it to them it’s a problem? Most professional players don’t play for the team they necessarily supported as a kid, they choose the money that can give their family and close ones a better life. A lot of Europeans are calling it greed, but I’d call it selfless.
this will be a flash in the pan with a few players getting very rich! i will enjoy seeing mbappe or haaland go to saudi in 7 years for a billion dollars a season , just to remind the world that Saudi Arabia has a football league
They already offered Mbappe a $B contract
@@train_xc crazy , i called it before it happened
All start when Ten Hag send Cr7 to bench....
I am reminded of that interview TIFO did with that reporter who pointed out that once people are inside the stadium, they can't be controlled!
Could be that this move will lead to a Football Utlra led revolution
There is no way anyone would prefer to live there if they had the choice. Once Saudi money dries up the entire nation returns to what is was before, the sports players go home
They can buy Newcastle and turn it into a PL winning, even CL winning team in time and with ALOT of money and creative accounting to get that money into the club, but they will do it. They can buy a world cup if they really want one, it will cost ALOT of money but Qatar did it and Saudi probably has better (not good, but better) foundations to host one than Qatar anyway. But growing their own leagues popularity by buying a bunch of players coming to the end of illustrious careers. If it didn't really work for the MLS and it didn't really work for China I don't see why it would work for Saudi.
True. Saudi is another retirement league just with more money. How can they even keep with Europe? A player would rather establish himself in Europe than to waste his prime in desert.
probably because unlike the examples you have provided, they actually have unlimited amounts of money, trillions of pounds worth of oil and gas in order to see all the diversification and development through
Agreed, they’re copying a concept that didn’t work for the MLS and was a disaster for China, because like you said, once Ronaldo leaves/retires, who really cares about Al Nassr? Certainly not anyone in Europe or Asia, perhaps only people in a few countries in the Middle East.
Players come and go, but the clubs are there to stay. It’s the CLUBS that fans love, particularly in the Premier League, where they’re relentlessly battling it out for ‘silverware’, or to avoid relegation, playing football at breakneck speed, while the fans go berserk and threaten to attack each other if their team loses! It makes for amazing entertainment and is surely the most popular sports competition in the world.
Even established leagues like Bundesliga can’t match the premier league, so how on earth can China and Saudi replicate it? They can’t. It’s a massive waste of money actually.
@@alex6677 China only failed because the government changed the laws as they didn't want the money to leave the country.
Wasting money is subjective. if you buy a car for 400 per month on a lease instead of buying a second hand one, much cheaper, that's wasting money, so it's really up to the Saudi's what they want to do with their unlimited cash and I find it ironic that our countries in the west suddenly has become conscious about wasting money when we have been doing it for decades so this whole wasting nonsense and other reasons is nothing but deep rooted islamophobia and jealousy that an Islamic country with unlimited amount of wealth are going to diversify its own country at the expense of other countries in the west who can't afford to do so.
They aren't trying to beat the premier league as they are trying to make the Saudi league one of the top ten leagues in the world and since England, Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Holland, Scotland, France are in the top 10, their aim is very easy to achieve as other leagues are rubbish. The Saudi League has been around since the 70's and since the countries demographic is much younger now in comparison to the 70's and are football crazy and with the creation of the football academy to increase and get better middle eastern players since 2006, it will take time and the attracting of talent even though old and the world cup in Qatar has strengthened the Saudi belief that they can succeed.
I was at Qatar for the world cup and can say that it was the best ever organised in the history of the sport and with Morocco going to the semi's where every middle eastern and african country supporting them, which doesn't happen here in the west, proved that the middle east football is growing and will get better with time, in fact, i remember when people started to complain about african players leaving for the african nations cup years ago calling the competition pointless never estimated how good the competition would get and it gotten much better and the same will happen for Saudi regardless who plays for them, in fact the Saudi's along with the American's will accelerate the Super League plan and it's only a matter of time when that happens because in the end, it's how much money your willing to throw at a problem will solve it and Saudi's have pretty much have unlimited mounts of it.
@@MrAce86Productions add that they alerady have the best club in asia historically winning most afc cl titles.
its starting, they are going to take best under 15 talent and best coaches
Lionel Messi is Saudi Arabia's official ambassador since 2022, and his job is to promote the country, officially. For that, he receives 33 m salary, according to Forbes and Bussiness Insider. He is part of the promotion campaign for the 2030 World Cup. Where is your video about that? I'm waiting. Messi going to Saudi to carry out his commitments as a Saudi ambassador instead of going to training was a reason PSG suspended Messi if you remember. The difference is, Cristiano was hounded out of Europe by a hate campaign and this was the only offer when he still could play regularly, and since he still wants to play in the national team, he took it. For Cristiano, it was a career necessity, for Messi is money. that's the difference. But ofc no media is talking about it.
Google the Guardian, Forbes, and other articles about it: The Guardian: 'Lionel Messi earned $122m last year. He still felt the need to take Saudi money' , Forbes: 'Revealed: The Huge Sum Messi Reportedly Earns As Saudi Arabia Ambassador'.
Prefer Messi but it’s clear that most organisations heavily favour him. UEFA chairman also said that they might consider adding MLS in the UCL after Messi’s move. They should try to be fair and do better to hide the bias.
"Cristiano was hounded out of Europe by a hate campaign"
He left united in a shameful manner after realising he could no longer cut it in the PL. Hounded out lmao....
Who's here after Neymar's
Don't you just love how people with a lot of money try to pay all their problems away. The goal of the Saudi league is to win over a younger audience that is yet to view them the way we do, they only need to maintain a level of sustainability for a while, and then have their minor influence naturally grow through younger generations viewing them differently. They definitely need to be taking down a peg before they completely rot the game
I love what they're doing.
@@HistoricallyRomantic Well some people will, this issue is especially subjective.
Bruh this comment
So this is just a premier league 2.0 basically
The other day i watched Ronaldo playing against Al-Hilal. It was the best football I watched since a long period of time. Top notch football and better than any European championship except the premier league.
From now on i know the Saudi Pro League is competing directly with the best championship in the world and I'm willing to pay to watch it.
I am still waiting for a video regarding how the UK government has forced Chelsea sale. The funny thing is that even FIFA didn't investigate this sale, and I guess they didn't because it is the UK government. Had it been in Saudi, everyone will be crying and screaming about politics involvement in sports.
Does the Asian confederation have its own version of the Champions League? And if so do they have their own version of ffp?
Yea they have their version of the UCL. I'm pretty sure FFP doesn't exist because the Saudi teams are clearly allowed to offer those crazy wages
They have ucl and their teams historically won a lot
No one but no one complained when European Leagues weakened African, South America and even Asian leagues, but now it's a problem when UAE does the same thing. Europeans and the Americans thinks too much of themselves in every sense.
And we were worried about the Super League? THIS IS THE SUPER LEAGUE
Yes. They can recreate it away from Europe now.
I’m one of many many Toon fans who are very conflicted by our take over. Ashley was soo awful remember. A drowning man will drink from any cup!