 is the top-tier football league in Saudi Arabia, featuring 18 teams and some of the world’s best players. Follow){kind=link}
Under its Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is looking to diversify its economy, and sports development is one of the core areas on which the Saudis are investing. Through its Public Investment Fund, the Saudi state took control of four of the country’s biggest footballing clubs, Al Hilal, Al Nassr, Al Ittihad, and Al Ahli. All these Saudi Pro League clubs have signed some of the biggest stars in Europe in recent years.
Cristiano Ronaldo was the biggest name to have joined a Saudi club, as he joined Al Nassr in December 2021. Other big names like Karim Benzema, Neymar, Sadio Mane, N’golo Kante, and Riyad Mahrez later joined the Portuguese superstar in Saudi Arabia.
But despite this massive investment and the acquisition of some of the biggest names in the game, there are still questions about whether the Saudi Pro League is at a good enough level of competitiveness to compete with other big leagues.
The following sections will analyze whether these state investments have been successful in enhancing the competitiveness of the Saudi league.
League Ranking
A good idea on this issue is provided by Opta Analyst’s Opta Power Rankings, which ranks leagues throughout the world by their strength and competitiveness. One of their recent reports indicates that since the Kingdom started making investments in football, the Saudi Pro League sides have been performing well in international club competitions.
In fact, the Saudi side Al-Hilal has become the highest-rated non-European team as they stand 44th with a rating of 86.1, and also created a record for the most consecutive wins by a top-flight football team as they won 28 matches in a row.
Thus, the Saudi Pro League (SPL) still has a long way to go. It had an average rating of 72 and thus ranked 26th on this list. For comparison, MLS had a rating of 75.1 and ranked 10th on the list.
Performance in AFC
How Saudi clubs have performed in the top Asian footballing competitions, AFC Champions League Elite and AFC Champions League Two.
Al-Hilal were the runners-up in the 2022 AFC CL Elite, but no Saudi team has been able to win the top Asian competition since the Kingdom made these massive investments.
Some Saudi clubs have been performing very well in the competition before the football revolution though, with Al-Hilal being the side to have won this competition the most times, with 4 wins to its name. Al-Ittihad have also won the competition twice.
No Saudi club has ever won the AFC Champions League Two in the history of the competition.
Verdict
There are some visible signs of growth in the competitiveness of the league that show that these investments are providing a meaningful return.
But for now, despite the big investments, Saudi Arabia still has a long way to go to even come near some of the biggest leagues in Europe and the Americas.
In all honesty, it is still too early to get a meaningful idea of the impact of this investment in Saudi football, but better league ranking and better results in competitions like AFC Champions League Elite in the coming years will leave little space to argue against the point that this investment has enhanced the competitiveness of Saudi football.