Saudi Arabia’s Meteoric Rise in Football
By: Anthony Tazbaz
Image Credit: ekrem osmanoglu
Committed to becoming a major hub for football (and just about anything else), Saudi Arabia continues to sign major players across all European leagues. Here are some of the biggest headlines originating from the Gulf nation within the past couple of weeks:
Al-Ittihad: The Jeddah-based club and defending Saudi Pro League champions announced the signings of both midfielder N'Golo Kante and 2022 Ballon d'Or Karim Benzema. They both arrived at Al-Ittihad on free transfers.
Al-Hilal: On the verge of signing Kalidou Koulibaly to a three-year deal from Chelsea FC for €23m - only one year after his €38m move to London from SSC Napoli. The defending AFC Champions League winners also signed Rúben Neves from Wolverhampton Wanderers on a three-year deal for a whopping €55m, a club record fee.
Al-Nassr: Handpicking from Chelsea's breadbasket once again, another Riyadh-based club attempted to sign a key player… only for it to falter. With the aim to lure Moroccan international winger Hakim Ziyech, Chelsea have now taken part in two colossal transfer failures, whereby Ziyech failed to switch clubs due to wrong documentation on multiple occasions by the English club. However, the Saudi club moved on and are on the verge of completing the signing of Croatian international midfielder Marcelo Brozović, who most recently helped his country reach the UEFA Nations League Final and the UEFA Champions League Final with Inter Milan.
Al-Ahli: Despite not considered part of the big three clubs in Saudi Arabia, Jeddah-based Al-Ahli is on the verge of confirming the signing of Chelsea goalkeeper and Champions League winner Édouard Mendy on a three-year deal.
These signings follow those of 2022 Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema and fellow Chelsea star and World Cup champion N'Golo Kanté to defending Saudi Pro League champions Al-Ittihad. The latest signings will provide fierce competition for the Saudi championship.
A Deeper Look
It is safe to say that this trend of players moving to Saudi Arabia all started with Cristiano Ronaldo's decision to move Riyadh and sign a lucrative contract with Al-Nassr. Saudi Arabia then used an opportunity in the New Year to exert greater influence following a highly entertaining friendly match between Al-Nassr and Paris Saint-Germain (or CR7 vs Leo Messi), where Ronaldo scored a brace in a 5-4 PSG win.
Another major factor for players coming to Saudi Arabia is the money. The Saudis made it incredibly difficult for CR7 to refuse their offer, tabling Cristiano Ronaldo $213m per year, amounting to $24,413 as an hourly rate. Meanwhile, newcomers Benzema and Kanté will earn an annual salary of nearly $200m and $109.78m, respectively. Such a figure puts Benzema's earnings as amounting to four times greater than any American athlete, including the MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL.
Putting salaries in context, PSG boasted some of the highest salaries last season in not only Europe, but in the world. For instance, Lionel Messi making $41m per year (bonuses included) during his two-year contract ending this month. Soon-to-be-former teammate Kylian Mbappé is currently under contract with a $619 million in gross earnings, amounting to $206m gross per year, with bonuses, endorsements, and various incentives included.
Moreover, the highest paid player in the Saudi Pro League before CR7's arrival to Riyadh was Argentinian international Éver Banega from Al-Shabab, who earned a weekly salary of £166,000, totaling £8,632,000 per year. Soon enough, that figure could be the average league salary, should the Arab Gulf nation continue to pull in European stars.
While the salary details of Neves, Mendy, Koulibaly, and Ziyech are yet to be confirmed, we can only imagine that their salary will far exceed those of their former teammates in Europe.
Who Owns Who
Unlike Europe, where most clubs are owned either by tycoons or nowadays private equity firms, each of the major Saudi Pro League clubs are mostly owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).
What is the PIF?
The PIF is Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund owned by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (MBS), which played a massive role in luring star players, financing the Saudi clubs to facilitate the lucrative contracts, and venturing into other sports such as LIV Golf. The PIF is also the majority shareholder of many other companies, most famous being Saudi Aramco, the third largest publicly traded company by market cap (it boasted the largest market cap approximately a year ago due to very obvious geopolitical reasons).
How is the PIF funded
Now is a time for a little crash course of political economy. Despite containing the word "public", the PIF is not funded through taxpayers' money, nor much via domestic economic productivity. Instead, the PIF - and most sovereign wealth funds - are funded primarily through investment gains facilitated by asset management firms.
Moreover, the PIF receives funding from various revenue streams, from tourism to oil. Saudi Arabia is a rentier state (this is where the political economy comes in). A rentier state receives external rents paid by foreign individuals, companies or governments on a regular basis. This concept defines many oil-wealthy states, where states traditionally received revenue from these rents in the form of taxes and royalties.
However, amid the opening of once-closed off Gulf economies, the state now typically garners revenue by selling and exporting oil abroad directly.
With revenues having skyrocketed and the nation committed to lower oil production vis-a-vis fellow OPEC+ members amid higher demand - particularly due to the conflict in Ukraine - the PIF will see more dollars, in turn enriching the ambitious government and growing Saudi Pro League.
Best Laid Plans
This will surely not be the end as countless more players - and now managers - are being targeted by the Saudis to help grow the game in the Gulf nation. Several recent targets include midfielders Stanislav Lobotka (28, Napoli), Thomas Partey (30, Arsenal), Marcelo Brozović (30, Inter Milan), forwards/winger Hirving Lozano (27, Napoli), Demerai Gray (26, Everton), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City, 28), and Roberto Firmino (free agent, 31).
Another older list of names includes goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (Tottenham Hotspur, 36); defenders Sergio Ramos (free agent 37), and Jordi Alba (free agent, 34); and forwards Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Chelsea FC, 34), Alexis Sánchez (Olympique de Marseille, 34), Wilfried Zaha (free agent, 30), and Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur, 30). Some of these names may still potentially end up in Saudi Arabia, whereas others could land somewhere else in Europe or in MLS.
While most transfer targets ultimately remain with their current club or find a home elsewhere, it is worth noting that Saudi Arabia's ambitious plans and lucrative contract offers make any transfer rumour a decent possibility.
Unlike China's ambitious plan with lucrative offers to swathes of top players from Europe during the mid-2010s, Saudi Arabia's plan seems far more achievable due to a stronger fan base and a more pragmatic government who is known for being shrewd when it comes to sports and economic growth.
While European football is likely not under threat with respect to a possible mass exodus of talent, the European game will change, with younger players potentially taking larger roles - before receiving that lucrative legacy-style contract to play in the desert.
