GENEVA (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s soccer league kicks off Friday after a spending spree on big-name players captured the world’s attention during Europe’s summer offseason.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of the kingdom’s vast oil wealth have been spent to bolster the ambitions of the state-backed Saudi Pro League to be a global player. Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe rejected nearly a billion more salaries, who rejected the Sign up for the exodus.
Now the games begin and the chance to see Champions League winners such as Karim Benzema, Sadio Mane and Riyad Mahrez, who followed January pioneer Cristiano Ronaldo, will be tested in an unfamiliar environment.
The league on Wednesday announced a list of broadcast deals in more than 130 markets around the world, but that did come with the United States.
“Global viewers can now sit in the front row as Saudi football transforms,” said the league’s interim chief executive, Saad Allazeez.
Three of the nine matches in circulation will be broadcast in Britain and Germany on subscription streaming service DAZN, French pay-TV network Canal and five other outlets in China, in addition to Tencent.
In North America, DAZN owns the rights in Canada and Azteca in Mexico. Global news packages will be through SNTV, a joint venture between The Associated Press and London-based IMG, which exclusively controls broadcast sales for the next two seasons.
Attracting Ronaldo to Al Nassr in January was a clear intention of the league, although he would soon turn 38. It also looked like an opportunistic outlier following the Portuguese star’s public split from Manchester United a few weeks earlier on the eve of the World Cup. Copa. Copa.
The seismic shift in football’s power play became clearer in early June when Benzema, the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner as the world’s most productive player, left Real Madrid after 14 stellar years.
The story ruled the final weekend of matches in Europe’s domestic leagues and hinted at the full extent of the Saudi national football allocation revealed the next day.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF), which oversees $700 billion in Saudi sovereign wealth, said it acquired majority stakes in 4 of the country’s top clubs. He nationalised clubs well in the biggest cities, Riyadh and Jeddah: Al Nassr, Benzema’s Al Ittihad, Al Hilal – the Asian Champions League winner in 2019 and 2021 that chased Messi and Mbappe – and Al Ahli.
“The Saudi Pro League Array. . . will be supported in its ambition to be among the ten most sensible leagues in the world,” the national news firm said in a statement.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chairs the PIF, has boosted his massive investments in global games that aim to diversify the Saudi oil economy through 2030. It is also through many games to change the name of your symbol and that of the kingdom.
While PIF can’t yet buy the same foothold in football that it now has in golf, it has also signed players, none of whom are near the end of their careers, with moving fees and salaries not presented anywhere else.
The largest move payment paid, up to $60 million, has been for the lower tier now at Al Hilal: Zenit St’s Malcolm. Petersburg, Rúben Neves from Wolverhampton and Sergej Milinković-Savić from Lazio. For now, UEFA, the organiser of England’s Premier League and Champions League, insists it sees no threat.
Ronaldo would get a salary of $200 million and Benzema more than $100 million. Both were true marquee signings as loose agents, but the league has yet to attract top-tier coaches.
Steven Gerrard agreed to coach Ettifaq after his reputation took a hit when he was sacked by Aston Villa last year, and first turned down the Saudi offer. Abha has hired former Polish coach Czesław Michniewicz, whose contract with the national team was not renewed after a lackluster World Cup.
Former Croatia and West Ham coach Slaven Bilic signed through Al Fateh last month, returning to the country after a five-month first spell in the Saudi league that ended in 2019 when he was sacked through Al Ittihad. $15 million salary settlement in a case contested through the club.
The appeal is just money. Benzema, Mané and Mahrez cite the importance of the game in a country of Muslim faith.
“My mom is Muslim like me,” Mane said this week. “She was the first to vote for it to pass and my whole circle of family members was excited that I got here, so it’s not difficult. “
Mane is one of 4 signings from Liverpool’s 2019 Champions League winning team, joining Roberto Firmino, Fabinho and captain Jordan Henderson, who has been criticised to the max for his beyond the LGBTQ community. Same-sex relations are criminalized in Saudi Arabia.
On a championship occasion this week, Henderson said he is still adapting to the Saudi climate.
“The warmth was challenging and it was hard to learn how to adapt, but the education was good,” she said. “I enjoyed and tried to adopt this other experience, culture and way of living and betting on football. “
Temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) are forecast around 6:00 p. m. m. start time for 3 of this weekend’s games.
Henderson and the Ettifaq team led by Gerrard have an appointment at nine o’clock on Monday night when they host Ronaldo and Al Nassr.
Friday’s opening match will see Al-Ahli host Al-Hazm at 9 p. m.
Al Ahli’s game is expected to debut for Mahrez, Firmino and former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
In Saudi Arabia, the revamped league is also a step for local skill to build on that surprising 2-1 World Cup win over Messi and eventual champion Argentina.
“Yes, we need a league to be proud of, to entertain local fans and the world,” Saudi Football Federation President Yasser Al Misehal said, “but it will have to serve the ambitions of the national team now and in the future. “
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