Saudi Arabia's Project Football just getting started with stars influx
Cristiano Ronaldo, Roberto Firmino and Co are just the start for Saudi Arabia’s Project Football with the country’s love of the game very real… but PIF’s favoured four clubs have a huge advantage
- Star-studded Saudi Pro League kicked off in 40C temperatures this weekend
- Passionate fan culture already existed in Saudi even before influx of stars
- Watch Mail Sport’s new podcast ‘It’s All Kicking Off’ in full online right now
At a children’s park in a neat residential area, youngsters run from swings to brightly-painted roundabouts, laughing and screaming as they enjoy the attractions. Parents watch on, talking politely among themselves.
It is a common scene that unfolds in most places on the planet. The difference here is that it is one o’clock in the morning.
‘It’s the hottest time of the year,’ a local tells me. ‘People become nocturnal. It is too hot to go outdoors in the daytime.’
The first thing that hits you when you step off the plane in Saudi Arabia is the searing heat. When the country’s much-talked-about Pro League kicked off on Friday night, the temperature at kick-off was 40 degrees.
It may explain why Al-Ahli, one of the four lucky clubs chosen for Public Investment Fund (PIF) backing, raced into a 2-0 lead on the back of a blossoming partnership between recruits Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino, and then ran out of gas, eventually prevailing 3-1 against Al-Hazm.
Roberto Firmino began life for Al-Ahli with a hat-trick as the Saudi Pro League season started
There was no shortage of passion in the stands at the match between Al-Ahli and Al-Hazm
Cristiano Ronaldo with his Golden Boot trophy after Al-Nassr won the Arab Club Champions Cup by beating rivals Al-Hilal on Saturday night
Money can buy you lots of things. It can bring Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema to the desert. But it cannot make it rain.
Not that Michael Emenalo, the man who decides how the PIF ‘goodies’ are split, sees a major problem. ‘I think we’re going through the worst part of it now,’ he says.
‘And on Friday night, everybody survived. We will get into the best months in September, it will be smooth sailing.’
Emenalo, the Saudi Pro League’s director of football, is the man with the PIF chequebook and all the answers. He believes, armed with PIF backing, more will follow Ronaldo’s lead.
Emenalo, a former Chelsea director is also bullish in his view that within a few years the Saudi Pro League, currently ranked about 58th, will be among the world’s best.
Some feel this will go the way of the Chinese Super League. A passing fad; a vanity project. Others compare it to Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup — an often artificial affair.
But a trip to Saudi Arabia quickly reveals an existing football culture.
Earlier in the week, television screens in hotels and restaurants were showing Wrexham v Wigan in the Carabao Cup.
Michael Emenalo, the Saudi Pro League’s transfer chief, says he wants ‘all the top players’
Ronaldo and his Al-Nassr team-mates celebrate winning the first trophy of the Saudi season
Three hours before kick-off on Friday, in that exhausting heat, excited Al-Ahli fans poured into the stadium and created a racket that continued throughout the game.
They chanted songs about rivals and their loyalty to their club. The referee was barracked, and when former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy handed their opponents a goal and made another mistake not long after, there were howls of derision. It was a proper football experience.
There was a strong sense of pride. People were delighted to see western journalists present at the match and thanked them for coming.
At Jeddah Airport, a passenger in front of me at security turned around, smiled and passed me a tray. There was no rolling of eyes, no incredulity at the bloke who had forgotten to take his belt off, or the woman who had left a bottle of water in her bag.
‘People feel that the view from the West of Arab people is one of fear, based on historical events,’ I was told.
‘They make a big deal out of trying to show that this is not right. Being hospitable is a huge deal.’
Fans of Al-Hilal create a colourful scene ahead of Saturday night’s match against Al-Nassr
Former Real Madrid talisman Karim Benzema is another star brought to the Saudi league
Welcoming women into the grounds, however, remains a work in progress. Opening night, it was a male-dominated crowd.
Carlo Nohra, the SPL’s CEO, agrees that work needs to be done. ‘We have to make the product more accessible by improving the infrastructure by making available facilities such as family sections,’ he says.
Competition may also be an issue. The PIF’s favoured four in an 18-club league are not on a level playing-field. The difference between Al-Ahli and Al-Hazm was instantly noticeable.
The Al-Ahli dressing room two hours before kick-off was a hive of activity, with a large backroom team ensuring everything was in place for the arrival of Firmino, Mahrez, Allan Saint-Maximin and their other expensively acquired imports.
Across the corridor, a lone kitman laid out their opponents’ gear in near-silence. While the match was, at times, keenly contested, you would imagine as the season continues the gap between the haves and the have-nots will extend.
It’s likely the gap between ‘haves’ such as Al-Ahli with their PIF cash and the ‘have-nots’ in the Pro League will only grow wider
Emenalo, however, makes the point that Europe is not immune from similar scenarios. ‘There’s no problem here because this is something that we’ve witnessed elsewhere,’ he says.
‘The clubs in England or Spain or Italy are not owned by a big organisation called PIF. But they are big clubs, and they had significantly greater economic power than the other clubs.’
Emenalo believes the Premier League should not feel threatened but adds that Saudi spending is far from over. ‘The Premier League was a trailblazer in the sense that it changed the media content for football, it changed the commercial interest in football.
‘I believe that we are on the right path and it will not take us as long to get to where we want to get —where the ambition has always been — which is to be one of the best in the world.’
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