The Saudi Pro League will NEVER become popular unless they change THIS | Growth analysis
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The Saudi Pro League shook the football world with their summer spending, bringing in massive names such as Neymar and Benzema from PSG and Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo was the first mega-star, who joined Al-Nassr in January of 2023, and since then Saudi Arabia have promised to shake up the sport. However, are they trying to do something that would be near-impossible with the traditional powers and the tradition, history and culture that already surrounds football? They are trying to pry an audience away from what they already know they love - and have loved for generations - while the product that is on offer, at least at this time, is nowhere near good enough. Unfortunately for them, it shows in their own match day attendances as well, as plenty of Saudi Pro League matches have seen crowds that don’t even break into four digits.
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www.theguardian.com/world/202...
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Intro: 00:00
A quick reminder…: 02:08
Who’s watching?: 06:39
The big obstacle: 11:17
Outro: 17:05 - กีฬา
Hobestly, Saudi league has just made the players that transferred invisible except for Ronaldo. I forgot about Benzema completely.
thats because ur media chooses not to follow the saudi pro league news Benzima has been scoring a lot..not defending just pointing out a fact
@@rushrants8761it doesn't matter if the media encourages it or not. If it was appealing to watch then people would watch it. And it doesn't matter if Benzema scores a lot of it's in a dead league that nobody wants to watch. If i want to see a bunch of has-beens play i don't even have to go to that horse shit of a league.
Benzema scoring a lot impresses Me about the same as when my local non famous football club wins a game. Completely and utterly uninterested.
The only reason I even hear about Ronaldo is Fabrizio doing his weekly contracted goals update that no one cares about 😂
it's literally because out of all the players that left europe to secure the bag, ronaldo seems to be the only one that actually gives a shit and as well is still stat padding and glory hunting to maintain his image.
They’ve made the Chinese Super League look successful
Jordan Henderson must be devastated. After all, his childhood dream was to grow football in Saudi Arabia.
Hilarious! Yeah, I think the bags of cash comfort him somewhat
He Plays for my local team and he brings so much joy to the city also he have been our best player by miles 👍🏻
@@thephenom550 that's honestly how you see him? That's interesting to hear, we in the West don't get to hear what actual Al Ettifaq fans think. Please tell us more about why exactly you think he's bringing 'joy' to your local team and community? And how do you think he's helping you become better?
@@pendafen7405 Absolutely mate 100%. The problem with West is the judgemental mentality without even asking questions. Let me tell you, Almost all of our fans loves Jordan, He is devoted to the club and plays his heart out even more than our Saudi players, He is constantly screaming at his teammates about their position, lack off effort and wrong decisions. He always argues with Refs and trys to urge them to go to VAR, Protect our players and give cards to the other team players. He always Stands Up for his teammates when fights happened and try to provoke the other teams players (Only if they started it) he even shoved Otavio to the ground when Al Nassr (Ronaldo's team) was trying to put pressure on the Ref and our players. He always clapps for us fans when he enters/leaves the pitch and he always puts fire in us to cheer for the team more. His mentality is astonishing He comes early to training and when he is done he goes to the gym and spend some time there. Almost all of our fans adores him even my father is saying that he is the best thing that happened for us in years. He has 4 assists and could've had alot more only if our players finished better. We are in rough form right now but we will try to do better in the Januray'a market to surround Jordan with better quality. That's all mate. Cheers
@@thephenom550he is playing in front of 500 of you because he is getting paid £500,000 a week, you could do much better and not have a mercenary on your team, just my opinion
In fact, what happened is that players who were swapped from the “big 4” went to the smaller club which was a big upgrade for them. Because only 8 foreigners can be registered per team.
I live in Saudi and I think the main problem non big 4 sides are facing is the sheer size and pull of the big 4, out of EVERYONE in my life I know all of them support one of the big 4 except my dad who supports Al wehda because he grew up going to there games, if the non big 4 sides want to pull some fans to them they need to start building a personal connection with them because they will never compete with the big sides.
Yeah i support al ain ( baha club ) and its very unfair for us even in the second division
Have they allowed women to sit amongst men yet, or are they still in the middle ages over there?
@@sullen2420 did you see any games? just one? watch a full match the cam will go to the audience some time I think 5-15% are women and everyone sit next to each other
That and they need to improve youth training and facilities
@@sullen2420you’re the one who’s still in the Middle Ages throwing assumptions without even knowing
The Saudi Pro League has the same vibes as the Chinese Super League push for "football dominance" around 2017. Paying absurd amount of money will only give you mercenaries.
I disagree. I think the living conditions, the culture in terms of wanting to watch football is far greater, particularly for the top teams. If you look at the Saudi league, a lot of the new players are Muslim which, Saudi Arabia, being obviously a Islamic based nation, helps attract these stars despite being “not in their prime”. I think that concept of being “home” is going to be a massive draw to Saudi Arabia or at least set the foundation. Also China never netted the stars the Saudi Arabia have like Ronaldo Benz and Neymar. Just remember that all 3 just 2 years ago were ballondor nominees with Neymar being the favourite before his injury last season and Benz winning it the year befotr
@@tewulf4094the Saudi league just boring bro, only 3 actual teams.. just saying
@tewulf4094 I get what you mean, but football, like any other sport, is part of the entertainment business. It's a spectacle for its people, part of the culture with historical ties. I'd say that the British had a better shot influencing people in India into football, but they preferred cricket 😁 these changes take time, and nobody knows how it will evolve, but the lack of connection with these teams is big. You only connect with imported star players. I personally don’t like the sounding of the team names, with the "Al-" everywhere 😉 I don't see the Saudi Pro League becoming elite, but we'll see. Prove me wrong
@@tewulf4094 it's just marketing. the muslim players will only tell you those stories about religion to justify their move there. they only care about the money and this is a cheap way to win over some fans. you think benzema is a religious man? he blackmailed one of his teammates with a sextape and was involoved with a underaged prostitute
and what about the french league ? im not saying theyre the same but dont the same 1-3 teams always win the french/ bundesliga/laliga? im curious @@elchapo6758
I didn’t even know there was a Canadian Premier League… crazy. I always thought MLS involvement was it lol
The csl is below the mls. It’s second division in Canada.
@@s.i2898the Canadian premier league is the first division in Canada, just that there's a few Canadian teams that play in USA instead. The plan is to have promotion and relegation with the CPL being the first division. Don't know where we got them being below the MLS, that's incorrect.
@@Salcido51Joseyou’re a clown if you think Canadian super league should be above mls
@@Andres-xy5yw They're saying they are separate leagues and not to conflate the two. Don't be a dick
@@Andres-xy5yw lmao you obviously didn't get what I'm saying, I'm pretty much trying to explain that the English premier league is different from the bundesliga and that's what you get from it? 😂
They've gone for the international market and prestige clearly. If they wanted a stronger league, they'd invest in the lesser teams, possibly even offering cheap or even free tickets for the smaller clubs and then give the tv rights away for free to everyone. They are making barely anything from the tv money and they can't be making much from the small attendances, just giving it away would increase attendances a lot and increase viewing as well. Then when things are up, slowly increase the prices.
I've no interest in watching a game, but if they had it on ITV for free I'd probably stick it on if nothing else was on.
The plan is to fund 4 teams in the first year and 4 other teams in the secind year then evaluate and decide what nect for the third season .. this is just a start and not the final decision
it's more complicated than that. saudi league already attracts large views from the middle east and other arab countries. the focus now is on getting people in europe and america to know about it and maybe follow it while also investing on infrastructure and local talent growth. the first one is easy but the last two take time.
That;s how S auds do business in general, they aren't interested in communal growth or longevity. It's all about clout and getting it right now.
Adrian, head's up from the situation in France: French tv channel RMC followed the hype train and in (another) terrible decision with no prior market study they stopped broadcasting the portuguese league in 23/24 to instead broadcast the saudi league thinking all portugal=ronaldo so this would be what portuguese people wanted. Keep in mind France is the 3rd country with the biggest PT population in the world at nearly 2M people. I don't think i can describe how dumb this was and how much money they lost, saudi hype was lost after 2 games, PT people gave up on the channel and won't resub, and we're left with no French channel broadcasting PT league this season on top of that. It was a decision taken in the span of 10 days.
Having grown up not really watching sports until high school and then only watching American sports (college/pro handegg, basketball, etc.) the switch-up to watching European football was not about the big names. There was this mystique about this huge and historic sporting institution which was foreign but intriguing. The supporter groups are as integral to the teams as the players and staff. Football clubs are intertwined in local culture in regional politics in a way that didn't exactly manifest in North American sports. Big loud crowds and team traditions are nothing new to American sports, especially around college football. But sitting down and actually watching a Premier League game was different. Part of the barrier was just the scarcity of broadcasting when I was younger but also the scores just seemed boring. When the Prem was shown on ESPN highlight reels, it was ManU winning again 1-0 or ManU winning the league with an astonishing 0-0 tie game... The match that locked me in, LFC at Arsenal opening day 2016/17, that electric 3-4 match with Sadio Mane's absurd first goal for the Reds, that was unbelievable. I was flabbergasted that I had been blind to all that action for so many years.
I cannot say that the Saudi Pro League has anywhere near the depth of history that the Champion's League, Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, or even Liga MX, Brasileiro Serie A, or Argentine Primera Division have.
Anyone who calls the NFL “handegg” is a complete biased joke. Opinion is worthless. I think European football is miles better than the NFL but I don’t disrespect either sport like a petulant child.
@@AidanCulverREALif anyone is acting like a, “petulant child,” it’s, *you,* the person pressed abt a fucking joke…
Here in the US, I have never even seen the Saudi Pro League on TV even if Fox has them. I would much rather watch almost any other league, I know where I can watch the Prem, Bundesliga, La Liga and the MLS. Plus they have to also deal with the fact Soccer is like... 4th or 5th in popularity, I'm spoiled for choices in sports and leagues, so I have no reason to watch.
They're on there, I've seen a few... well I didn't watch them haha but it was on
Yeah. NFL is just too good.
@@gappergob6169Yeah, even watching my favorite team (New England) can provide more entertainment that the Pro League, even if that means a heart attack from that Christmas Eve game vs Denver
im in mexico, no one has SPL on tv.
i have a easier time watching USL games than finding SPL matches
You can't have just 4 popular teams with all the superstars. It's going to ruin your league in the long term.
One of the things that makes the Premier League so interesting is the fact that even the supposedly smaller clubs have incredibly talented players and can beat the top teams if they play well.
and La Liga could have smaller clubs with talented players but real and barça messed them up and stole their tv money for 20 years
@@Abrantelo the team that finishes bottom of the Premier League receives £120 million (nearly 150 million Euro) per season, then it increases by a small amount as you finish further up the table. So every single team in the EPL can afford to pay big salaries. The other big positive regards English football is that there are numerous really big clubs with several playing in the 2nd tier and 3rd tier, so the English domestic leagues even down to the 5th tier are very strong with big crowds.
It's true, but it's not new for Arabia. Even before last year and everything that happened, you already had the big 4, and everything else.
And then, it's always more complicated than that, look at Germany where we continue to have the strongest influences in the world despite Bayern winning everything, and even with clubs that rot in D2 with players that no one knows, Schalke or Hamburg continue to have more than 50,000 spectators.
It saddens me to see those great clubs in D2. I remember many European nights against them at Ibrox.@@vincesalamander5980
La Liga had Real and Barça for decades and they're doing fine
My suggestion would be to make a small league of 10 teams
In here, Portugal, SportTV has the rights for the SPL. We get Al-Nasr and Al-Hilal games, because of portuguese players and coaches and games of Al-Ittihad (had a former portuguese coach as well) besides these clubs, I don't think any other team has their games broadcasted here. I know some people watch SPL games, but again, they do watch it because of the portuguese presence there, not because they're interested in the league itself.
Never thought to or have watched it. Even if the best players in the world play there I doubt I'd tune in to support them.
They should make SPL free to watch online and TV. Maybe then it will pickup steam.
this is the best video about SPL i have seen so far. as a saudi football fan i would add 2 key issue are clubs role in the community and stadiums infrastructure. if smaller clubs wanted to attract fans they need to be active within the community and create a bond with the fans especially if they are not located in riyadh or jeddah where the big 4 are. al-tawoon already did this and that helped them attract more fans and become a much better club. stadium attendance can also increase greatly by improving the stadiums especially with adding air conditioning since it can get really hot in the summer. this has already started as part of a large project to improve sporting infrastructure but it will take time.
I live with a foreign student from Saudi Arabia. One night I went to the kitchen and he was sitting there watching football. While I was cooking my food, we talked about football, and he told me he startzed watching this summer because of all the transfers. we then watched the match on his laptop. It was ok football, but it kinda lacked the heart. You didn't really hear the crowd sounds and most of the seats were empty. Didn't know how much fun in football comes from that.
I didn't know the Brazilian league spent so much money 😮
As a Saudi I can say thank you for the informative video and the problem when it comes to attendance the fans of all the clubs may don’t want to come because of the very bad stadiums however our demands have been answered for few smaller clubs first building 15000 seats stadiums with a solid base for upgrading and when it comes to signings the teams will put for investors and with the edition of government support thank god we will see better signings for all teams but for now the first invested teams are the big 4
it should be considered that foreign fans have to pay extra for subscriptions to watch matches, and people are just choosing to put the money towards watching foreign matches than local matches. This is for sure true for myself. I never go see mls but I pay probably ~200 dollars in subscriptions each season to watch Tottenham’s and the European competitions
Tottenham? Why oh why??
why would foreigners even pay for that league?
As a saudi, I watch games outside the top 4 games this year more than ever, and the quality of the games have increased greatly. Regarding PIF invesment, this is just stage one, stage two will start next summer with more clubs getting more money. One more point I think you missed, Al-ettifaq is out of the top four and still bought some big names like Hendo and dembelle but that was not enough to go beyond the 8th place in the league which indicates that invesment is not everyting when it comes to club success. Big fan of your channel Adrian, keep it up
Rabona tv wearing the club kit i supported since 10!!
I have watched some games and kept up with the big teams, I do think though the fact that they share kickoff times in Europe makes it difficult to tune in when there is a massive PL or La Liga game at the same time. Still with the money and lack of financial fair play they can totally buy their way to notoriety over time.
It will for sure grow if they continue to invest as they have, I even watched part of the al nassr vs al ittihad match cause I opened up total sportek an hour early and saw it was on 🤣
@@Andres-xy5ywm
Great and logical analysis, I would also like to add on that connection part, I've been following the saudi league for a while and before those big transfers only because some Moroccan players (where I'm from) were playing there, so I think that if the smaller saudi teams can bring players from other countries that have a really big football fan-base and isn't Europe, not only will it be significantly cheaper, but it will also bring eyes and help improve the level of the smaller teams with smaller budgets than the big four.
The Saudi League is transforming itself in the Portuguese League in terms of the structure. Four Great teams and the rest. The four bring a lot of people the rest bring almost no one.
Something I wanted to point out is that despite MLS not being watched globally, they bring the best players from all the concacaf nations which is why it has always attracted attention from the locals.
Here in America, people from all over the world live here especially the Hispanic community in all the big cities like LA, NY, DC, Miami, etc.
-LA Galaxy in the past has had Jaime Penedo (Panama keeper) & Mauricio Cienfuegos (El Salvador CAM)
-LAFC has Carlos Vela (Mexican CF)
-Atlanta had Josep Martínez (Venezuelan CF)
-Latest Messi which not only helps cause he’s one of us (Hispanic) but cause he’s loved globally.
Players the locals are interested in cause they’re from the same countries/ demographics that we root for.
The Latin American is established in MLS & mainly Spain. England is catching on cause they teach English as an elective in most Latin Countries now so the language barrier is becoming less & less.
If Saudi Arabia took their time in focusing on the African & Asian market then bringing European players in, they would gain a lot more viewership.
The locals are what keep you afloat cause they buy your jerseys & attend games.
Some of the players I mentioned are probably not known on a global scale but locals do so that’s why they sell/ sold jerseys & were consistent w/ attendance from the locals.
You have to know your market & Saudi Arabia is trying to hard to get into already established market.
There’s only a handful of players people care about globally.
People don’t care about Mitrovic or Mendy like they do for CR7 or Messi.
Even players like Iniesta once he left Barca, they forgot about him.
MLS is also all about marketable players only, that's why there's such a huge gap between attackers and defenders on average wages within the league, attackers make 10x and of what defenders make in the mls while the average in europe is around x6. That's also a huge reason why the "defending" in MLS is as trash as it is, I'm literally reluctant to even call what's happening there defending. No hate but it's a pain to watch, I gave it several shots but can't take it serious.
@@alexsch5583 i wasn’t talking about the quality. I’m talking about the audience you’re selling to.
The reason the MLS is sustainable is because players they bring whether it’s Mexicans, Central Americans, South American or the Caribbeans all live in the big cities so that demographics of people will go see them even if against their own team when they visit.
Ex. Carlos Vela is Mexican & plays for LAFC so no matter where he goes, there will be a Mexican audience to go watch the game.
Saudi Arabia doesn’t have & bringing the big names is them trying to bring in tourists instead of focusing the demographics that live there to go see their games.
You can say whatever about the level that it’s not up to par w/ the rest of the world but they bring in the right players to target a specific audience.
Perfect ex. is Liverpool w/ Salah. I bet you can go anywhere in Egypt & most of the population are Liverpool supporters now cause Liverpool has him in their team. They established a market there when they brought him in.
Saudi Arabia needs to focus on the demographics around them.
@@badmerr6758 not arguing against your point, you are correct with what you said in my opinion.
Just tossed in my 5 cents on how I feel about the MLS and the point I wanted to make there isn't the quality in relation to other leagues but the discrepancy of quality within the MLS itself between the attackers and defenders they bring in because all the players you mentioned are high profile attackers.
You're absolutely correct about the MLS targeting the right demographics with the players they bring in, they just don't quite understand yet that defence is as relevant to the sport even if it's not as marketable and they'll need to change that if they actually want to gain traction with global audiences.
you’re right. i live in Canada in an area which gets lots of international students from Central America. all the ones who i have met watch and support the MLS. mainly because all of their favourite players from their country play in the MLS. mls brings in the best players from these countries and then some of them go over to europe
MLS has also started to develop young mainly American players some who get picked up by European clubs. Saudis dont usually leave their country and there are no stand out players good enough to. Maybe in the future who knows?
Its unavoidable to see the similarities between saudi league and the chinese super league back then...
All of a sudden the chinese started to throw money at any player that they could, popularity never spiked to recoup that money invested and it all went down in flames.
Maybe im just being pessimistic, but i see the same happening to the saudi league in a couple of years.
Csl never attracted the level of players the Saudi league has. So different situation.
@@jaimesauceda9716could just become a much bigger and much much more expensive situation with a low ROI. Nothing has happened regarding this league other than in saudi arabia and perhaps surrounding countries. And I hope it at least is growing in it’s own country. But for now, its on the same path as the chinese league was
@@jaimesauceda9716 you're not wrong there, but still money is thrown hand over fist for player wages and in a much higher degree no doubt, and still the appeal is lacking.
It might be different in small details but the underlying problems are still very much the same
China wanted to improve football and stopped when that didn’t work, Saudi want to clean their name and will keep throwing cash at it until it happens
@@jaimesauceda9716 People forget how massive names like Oscar, Teixera and Bakambu were. Bona fide wonderkids. More hyped than Gabri Veiga ever was
In Indonesia, SPL is currently broadcasted by SPOTV and like other countries, games aired only involve the big 4. I really want to watch Al-Ettifaq matches but they're so scarce.
great video + love the benzema from wish cosplay
Great watch as always 👊🏿
I support Ettifaq, a club outside the big 4
I think The main problem in Saudi is the stadium, I live in Riyadh (I can only see my team 4 times a year) and the only way to go to the stadium is by car, even if the stadium is 30km away from me, the journey will be at least 1h30min, and it is the only activity you will have there so when the game end you will go through this suffering again.
And the other problem is 90% of the stadiums are old. especially in design and the quality so if you watch the game from home you will enjoy it more
This was a great watch!
Hola amigo!
Love your videos ❤
If you ever want to fallow a team in Norway, you should fallow SK Brann from Bergen and get yourself a Brann jersey! And enjoy the ride of emotion! 😂😅
Keep up the good work and good vibes!
Brann-fan
Tried watching a big 4 game. Came in always expecting the big foreign players to either score or assist a goal. If they do, it shows how lacking the Saudi league is as a whole and if they don't, it shows how these players either came here for the money and don't care or they're just not good enough anymore. It's a lose-lose for both parties to be honest in my eyes.
Fun fact about Geylang (the jersey), that district is actually a red light districtd. Do visit that area in Singapore if you are into red light district.
16:31 holy shit is this Pacific FC? I’ve been to a game there with my friend a month before he went back to China and it was genuinely incredible.
Also didn’t know that you’re a Victoria native until now, that’s awesome!
I think in my whole life I watched just 1 5-minute highlight video of al nassr and besides that I never cared enough to watch
I keep hearing about it and i keep ignoring it, but it's nice to have these types of videos to see what these multi-billion mega projects actually achieve
Time is a zero-sum game. I get enough football watching the Premier League and Real Madrid. I'd rather do something else instead of watching a extra game
Feliz Ano Novo, Adrian.
A few comments: you got to this point near the end. It's hard for someone removed from Saudi Arabia to care for any of the teams. Foreigners likely have favoured players that they might watch. But watching Ronaldo against 11 no-names isn't much fun, especially if his own teammates are not of the quality one would expect around him. And yes, I don't know how many people around the world think about Saudi Arabia, and certainly not in a positive sense. Even former colonial powers such as England, France and Spain are countries people are familiar with, and to some degree admire (even if their histories are not exactly human rights models).
As yet, there are no big rivalries that can get people excited by the progress of one team versus another, and to anxiously look toward certain matches. And if the lesser teams are far-removed in terms of talent and quality there is little incentive to watch a big team play a minnow. It's sort of a cliche that in the big five leagues, on any given day one team can be anyone. I don't know if that exists in the Saudi League.
Do you know what ticket prices are like? Saudi Arabia doesn't have a huge footballing culture so it would need to be appealing to the many casual fans in the country who probably follow foreign leagues more than their domestic one.
Ultimately, I think it's very difficult to inject a footballing culture where it barely exists. Japan is one of the few places that has managed to grow one, and this has been helped greatly by the quality of its own players. South Korea has also done this. But they did have a fan base to begin with.
Sportswashing impact meant a lot of money must be thrown in order to sustain anything that is not developed organically. This is extremely easy in autocratic regimes, but will be very hard to sustain if not using repression.
Kazakhstan joined UEFA in 2002 after a successful sportswashing scheme and in order to stay, Kazakhstan has bribed UEFA officials and used oil money from the Caspian Sea for their football project called Astana to justify their switch (despite Kazakhstan shares more authoritarian root with many AFC members than UEFA). But its recent success is short-lived, since Kazakhstan has no grassroot football culture. The same tactics have since been adopted by Russia and Azerbaijan, before Qatar and Saudi Arabia followed the same steps. Yet Qatar's 2022 World Cup flop, combined with Russia banned from all football events after the war in Ukraine, showed how vulnerable the sportswashing scheme could be.
It is not strange why sportswashing is not a model of sustainability. Ironically, it is Kazakhstan’s extreme corruption and stupidity influenced Saudi Arabia to do the similar madness.
I feel like the term “sports washing” is a term just to hate a country for buying players when Europe did it nobody complained but when Saudi Arabia does the same thing it’s just countless of biased media
The problem is that small clubs don’t have a lot of fans it well take time for them to get fans maybe a new gen
4 government funded clubs won't turn the rest of the league into superstars. You can buy them former stars all you want, but no one will watch the other teams.
the saudis didnt learn when china and NASL tried to do the same
There is something u forgot to mention which is that there are teams that are being either bought or developed to be big teams
Teams like : altawoun and Al ettifaq are playing good against top 4 teams and are buying players
Also alqadisia was bought by Aramco the biggest oil company and is probably going to be stacked when they return from yelo which is the lower division so it looks like the Saudi landscape is going to become more competitive in the next years after the moneys
Result comes but it will take time
I like your glasses, where did you get them from?
as far as I know you can't watch the league through a mainstream way here in Finland.
I can name the top four Saudi clubs… the Cristiano Ronaldo team, the Benzema team, the Neymar team and I think the last one is the Firmino team?
I think same applies to 90% of the football fans, as of today
As a dane i honestly couldn't tell you who owns the rights, closest thing I've come is seeing them pop up on those shady Arabian sites I use to pirate matches
UK checking in, I saw the league marketed in the Tommy Fury v KSI fight but never beyond that
Happy new year
The Saudi League is only for fun and not a competitive league, I only watch derby and Classico matches only because it is one of the strongest matches in the league
As a Saudi who support a Saudi team I never hated my team more than now.
Id say this video is too early, SPL will grow the league but it will take many years.
The best question will be, where will they be in 5 years down the line?
Nowhere, Saudis got what they wanted (to host a World Cup), now they’ll slowly wither the Saudi Pro league into nothing
I think that this video should be redone in 5 years from now, this problem of the big four have been in the SPL for sometime now, nothing has changed now, lets see if there will be any change in the coming years.
In Bulgaria all matches are broadcasted and no one watches them. Even when they are at times where no other leagues a re played, still nobody tunes in
It's a fun league. I've watched a few games.
In France, we have three games per week and they show highlights on TH-cam and some publications on Instagram. But it's mostly about the big 4. I follow the IG page of the league.
Hello from Singapore
AMATEUR-LEVEL LEAGUE
One qualifier I would add is that you should mention how much of the premier league’s spending is Chelsea. It doesn’t change that the EPL spent 2 billion, but it does put things into a bit more perspective.
Bro Adrian they have so many domestic players because that are literally the registration rules. I think all clubs get 6 foreign players or something similar. They have 6 European top players earning 1.2M a week playing with Saudi Arabian players that are just nowhere close to the level of their few teammates
We Dont Even Acknowledge The League's Existence Here. No Live Games,No Highlights,No Weekly Magazine Shows...Nothing
Yo shoutout Geylang!!
Bro, why some people analyzing the situation like its been 5 years since this Saudi project started, its only 6 month !!!!!!!!
The saudi public fund stated that the 4 teams is just the beginning, that is normal since 95% of Saudi's support those 4 teams, other teams usually in small city or semi village city, they have supporter only inside their city, its a privatization project for all the saudi teams as currently they dont have any income other than the government small amount support and t-shirt advertisement
and most of the fund come from businessmen donation who support his team, but now any company or investor can buy any team and invest and buy good players which will bring incomes and building a fanbase for most of the teams
attendance for the 4 teams matches didn't significantly increased because the Saudis are already football craze since old times, and they always attend the matches , not to mention that many Saudis enjoy hanging together in places or coffee shops to watch and enjoy the matches together, but we see many guests from around the world now come to attend the matches
Its a long term project not an ad-hoc, you have to understand the old situation and the new one before judging
Reason you commenting on it means it has reached some level of popularity
I could see a model where eventually the PIF or other major investment is installed in every team in the league ony then will it be competitive.
They get like 400 spectators per game
Yeah and watch these games with shirts from European teams 😅😅😅😅😅😅 Mickey Mouse league is being charitable
I live end Denmark and the only way to watch their matches will be DAZN and haven't seen a match and no one I know watches them and I myself have started to watch more women's matches from England and clubs from home.
Before watching women football, go and support your local U15 Boys. The football is better there too.
@@raketensven3127 You can believe I do that when there is time for it, from U17 to U19 from our local club 😁, what gives women's matches a greater chance is that they come on TV and on steaming now, our youth matches do not 🙁
They are aiming for the European, North American and East Asian market. However, East Asia has no cultural interest in the middle east. Europeans won't stop watching top football they can literally see in person to watch the Saudi league. And Canadians and Americans do not care about That region in this regard. So really, they are attracting middle eastern people. That should be the target
That's why they tried so hard for Mo Salah in the beginning of the season ig.
In the US soccer is probably the 5th most popular team sports behind American football, basketball, baseball and ice hockey. If I want to watch a soccer game I have the choice of the Premier League, the Championship, La Liga, La Liga 2, the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, the Eredivise, the Belgian Pro League and MLS. The Saudi Arabian league is waaaaaay down at the bottom of the options.
SPL wants viewers from America, but Messi moved to MLS so the entire Western Hemishpere is immidiatly intrested in that league more so than ever. before Messi, MLS was poaching south american wonder kids and those wonder kids like your Almirons get bought by first division teams in Europe. now the league is just gonna go even harder on this.
Here for the CPL reference! Canada!
im a saudi in saudi currently with some experience outside of saudi football
people in saudi REALLY like football I MEAN LIKE REALLY but the thing is most of the football fans a “underaged” you can hardly find football fans over the age of 40 maybe even 29 or older
there are many reasons MANY reasons including scheduling issues alot of games are midweek and only one is in saturday (keep in mind that weekends in saudi are friday-sat)
and even friday is considered quite a holy day having its own prayer “salat al jumah” which is mandatory for men and most matches take place at night also ticket prices SKYROCKETED
going from 18-30 dollars to now some being 300 or even more.
The better for this league is to merge with other Gulf countries as the MLS is between US and Canada. Only tops teams play in this new league. Bring attendance to the stadiums
You want to mix football with golf???? A literal different sport, Are you insane?! Plus Saudi people love their football, golf not so much.
Gulf countries like UAE, Qatar…
This is actually a great idea but it is probably difficult to accomplish it on a geopolitical level
Select games are broadcast in the states on Fox Sports. The video quality of the games are not good and the games felt like friendly games instead of competitve games.
Idk about the Saudi Pro League coverage here in UK. I just know I nearly always enjoy MLS matches, especially for betting on both teams to score
I'd like to point that the map posted is inaccurate, nevertheless good pointers throughout the video.
You can pay players these excessive salaries, but for 98/99% of players, it’s the badge on the front of the shirt that carries more than the name on the back.
The Chinese Super League had to learn this. Heck most MLS teams haven’t learned it (still trying to have what the Galaxy had with Beckham). You cannot become a top league by buying Europe’s leftovers for dumb prices.
That's not the current MLS model. Inter Miami is doing the Barcelona reunion tour, yes, but for most teams, the plan is to build around younger South Americans or fringe Europeans, like Scandinavians or Eastern Europeans, in addition to American players. Look at LAFC and the Columbus Crew, the finalists for this year's championship. I guess you could say Chiellini fits your mold, but generally speaking, neither of those teams are built around aging European stars.
Sony Liv (an indian regional streaming service) has the broadcast right of SPL here
Even though i have an active subscription for that app for Uefa Competitions,bundesliga,UFC, WWE and major tennis events, I have never watched a single full SPL game
Having those players in weaker leagues are like playing GTA with all the cheat. So much fun at the beginning than it’s just plain boring.
As an MLS fan I’m worried that Inter Miami may become the Al Nassir or PSG of MLS. MLS is interesting because it is very unlikely that you will be able to guess the winner of the MLS cup. Inter Miami CF is spending a whole lot while other teams are not matching the spending. It almost feels like Miami has gotten special treatment as of late.
The problem I found with al ittifaq (they're literally 10 mins away from my home) is that I didn't see them in my community when I was growing up. I don't feel a personal connection to that club. If they had arranged local tournaments for youngsters and increased their presence in schools. I think I'd have genuinly supported the club because of the personal connection with it even if they lose every match
They should "suggest" to the owners of the other teams to start buying big name players as well so each team has their star(s) that people would want to watch
Do a modern MLS vid.
I watch atleast 2 games a week.! Joker stream never fails
We saw this already with the Chinese league and the MLS. You can’t buy legacy, or relevance.
Players are only as relevant as the leagues they play in.
Watch 2 matches, never again, even the big teams have a handful of quality and the rest is dire.
The defending and goalkeeping is u-17 level. I’d somehow rather watch MLS.
Also the stadiums are generally empty
I only watch La Liga when Real plays a big match, I only watch Saudi when Al Nassar plays football
The Saudis didn't learn from the Chinese Superleague. Look at China right now, zero football talent. Look at South Korea and Japan, both made investments in their local players and you can see the difference.
Neither the Korean or Japanese league are better than the SPL even before all the investments
One big problem for the SPL, indeed for any league outside of the big 4 Euros is the sheer competition for eyeballs. Even if I could watch the SPL or MLS for free, I wouldn't have the time. Right now for $12 per mo, I can stream the Prem, Serie A, UCL, The Europa, the Europa Conference, the Brazilian, the Argentinian, even the Asian Champs League, among others. That's more than enough football on offer.
Bayern Munich was complaining about United being bullies when they bought Hargreaves.
Where can I find the Opta league rankings?
In austria dazn also has the rights for the league but at least as far as I’m concerned not many prople watch it
Shoutout CPL!!!
It's insane how so many Saudi trolls and Ronaldo extremists swear that the Saudi league is better than MLS
Problem with Saudi league is that Top 5 or 6 teams which spend load of money on European players has become so much strong that gap between them and lower table team who still has old weak players increased so much as top 5 teams are much stronger but after that teams becomes too much weak and they are too much easy to defeat by any European RELEGATION side
so what about the bundesliga mate?
the pif taking over the big 4 was spose to be followed by local businessmen paying the other teams and few of them was spose to be ancones before the end of the year like stc (the biggest telecom company in sa) buying al-Shabaab but nothing happened yet, btw al-Shabaab's location worth double the other 3 Riyadh teams combined
It’s to prevent corruption like what happened to the Chinese super league
Germany: it's available on DAZN but I haven't watched a single game....why would I?
Even with all that spending, it doupt it will take off tbh.
I live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and I can tell you my friend that the map you have showed of the clubs locations are completely wrong as Al Shabab and Al Riyadh are more located in the city and Al Nassrs home ground is in King Saud University and not Al Hilal. Just to inform you on how things work around here 👍🏻🇸🇦
Gotta admit. It’s fun watching top flight players play in a different culture of football. Hopefully you guys can keep growing the league and build a solid competitive league.
its more popular now than MLS though that doesnt say much
No wonder how one is stat padding in that league 😂
I’ve only watched highlight out of curiosity to see how the big names are doing. It doesn’t look any worse than MLS, if not better, but there is definitely a lack of atmosphere.
Most of the hype occurs when there was the kings cup and the club world cup you’ll find all the seats booked
As an Al Ahli fan pre big spending era, it’s funny to see my team be relegated, return to the top and then spend big bucks on firminho, just to bench him over a native Arab.